THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY - Netflix The Umbrella Academy’s Robert Sheehan and Emmy Raver-Lampman Take C2E2 2020 By Storm THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY - Netflix

The Umbrella Academy’s Robert Sheehan and Emmy Raver-Lampman Take C2E2 2020 By Storm

Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo

With the surging abundance of new shows and content always bombarding streaming networks such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video, it is extremely easy for great works of art to be swept under the rug. Fortunately, The Umbrella Academy has climbed its way to the top of the heap.

Not to be sleeping on this fact, Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo invited Robert Sheehan and Emmy Raver-Lampman to the stage  — encouraging them to interact with the fans who just can’t seem to get enough of Klaus and Alison Hargreeves. The results were a crowded house rumbling with cheers, sighs, and laughter.

One of the very first questions presented to the twosome dealt with their familiarity with the resource material. It was clear the many diehard fans of The Umbrella Academy comic book series were hoping that the stars were not only playing a part, but also kindred spirits.

Robert Sheehan chuckled before launching into a story about him and his agent. “I got a call from my agent, and she goes, ‘yeah it’s this comic book that is written by The Chemical Brothers.’ That’s really about how familiar we were with it before we got the script,” he informed the audience. 

Although his agent got the artist wrong, the crowd was able to find humor in the situation and laughed along with Sheehan. I’m not sure if this is a common mistake, but I guess I can see the confusion. 

The Umbrella Academy Netflix
The Umbrella Academy

It turns out Emmy Raver-Lampman wasn’t much more familiar with the series either.

“I read the script for the first episode, and then I was sent to my audition. When I got my callback I was like, I should probably read these graphic novels. I have to learn more about this crazy family,” she said.

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Although neither of the two knew the Hargreeves family existed beforehand, their portrayal of the characters is still spot on, showing they did their research when the time came.  

Besides reading the comic series, Robert Sheehan and Emmy Raver-Lampman prepared themselves in different ways, enabling them to get to the core of their characters.

Emmy Raver-Lampman shared, “I grew up an only child. I have a half-sister who is twenty years younger than me. Being a sibling is something I don’t know — especially being part of a big family. That family dynamic is something that intimidated me from the beginning.”

“I couldn’t research on Google, ‘how to be a family.’ I have close friends, so I kind of investigated the close friendships I have in real life. Some of my really close friends are like my sisters, so I tried to bring that into Alison as much as possible,” she added.

“Also, Alison is a mom, so that is something else I had to wrap my brain around. Because my sister is so much younger than me, I also kind of investigated that a little bit. Everything I needed to figure out about who Alison was, I had in some way or another,” Emmy Raver-Lampman concluded.

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Robert Sheehan chimed in, “I did a lot of automatic writing in the character, which was interesting. A lot of it kept on going back to childhood.”

Sheehan continued, “I tried to do this artistic diary of Klaus, but I’m not very good at drawing. I just ended up googling pictures of things I was trying to draw.”

“You have to build a past, a present, and a future — all of that informs the performance. Things happen unconsciously in the performance as a result,” he philosophized. 

Moving on from the subject, an audience member questioned the stars on when they realized The Umbrella Academy was a hit. Emmy Raver-Lampman responded, “I’m still in shock with all you guys sitting here and having any interest in what I have to say.”

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She further explained, “That’s the thing with Netflix, ten episodes drop in three seconds, and it’s global. It’s not just this country for a couple of months, and then Netflix gets the right and then goes to a couple of different countries. Within one minute it was all over the world, and that is still something I can’t quite wrap my brain around.”

“People in Brazil watch our show — that’s insane! The reach is something I didn’t think about when we were shooting. It is still very surreal,” Emmy Raver-Lampman said excitedly.

Robert Sheehan admitted that he had to hear it from someone else first.

“About a week and a half after the release of the show, I got a text from Steve Blackman saying, ‘you’re on a hit show, sir.’ Then there were some cute statistics and figures and all that. It was that message that came from him — it felt very significant,” Sheehan responded.

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY - Netflix
The Umbrella Academy

Later down the line, a well-versed participant and superfan focused on Robert Sheehan asking him specifically about his thoughts on a Klaus based spinoff. This brought a large smile to his face.

Sheehan seemed rather pleased with the notion. “Yes, absolutely! Gerard Way wrote a prequel about Klaus set five or six years before The Umbrella Academy story. I’m well up for that — absolutely!”

This created a buzz around the jam-packed room, giving fans speculation on what that could all entail. Not only do we get to look forward to another season of The Umbrella Academy, but we also have a chance at a deviation into individual character mythos. 

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The excitement proved to be contagious throughout the crowd and did not dissipate until long after the panel ended. It was clear that Robert Sheehan and Emmy Raver-Lampman did what they came to do — interact with fans and create hopes for the future of the Hargreeves family. Whatever the future holds for them, the ferocious fandom is along for the ride. 

Catch The Umbrella Academy now streaming on Netflix.

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Charles E. Henning lives in a quaint town of Illinois with his ever-loving wife since 1998. He is new to writing reviews, but has over thirty years of fictitious writing for his own personal fulfillment. His interests range from science fiction to character-based dramas, but he is a sucker for anyone in a cape.