The second season of The Umbrella Academy has been available on Netflix for about a week now. While fans have praised the show for its original story, colorful characters and imaginative soundtrack, they cannot quite get over the fact that its central romantic relationship concerns two siblings. And in a recent interview with Digital Spy, showrunner Steve Blackman commented on this “perceived incest.”
“I wanted to say to people, ‘Look, they’re not biological siblings,’ but yes, it’s weird that they grew up together,” he said. Here, Blackman stresses an important detail that may be ignored by casual viewers of the show. Namely, that the two characters in question – Allison and Luther – are adopted rather than biological siblings.
In case you aren’t familiar with the source material, The Umbrella Academy tells the story of a group of children born randomly throughout the world, each to mothers without fathers, and each with their own unique superpowers. These children are then adopted by an enigmatic and very rich philanthropist, whose sudden death puts the entire story of the series into motion.
“But, yes, are they siblings?” Blackman went on to say. “Sort of. But they’re also not biologically related, and there’s such a puppy love story. You know, I don’t know if it’s real love. It might feel like real love to them. But it’s sort of a kid love from growing up together, and beautiful moments from their past where they hung out together.”
At moments like these, it’s important to remember cinema has seen relationships that are much more explicitly incestuous than this one. For a telling example, look no further than the original Star Wars trilogy, which saw Luke and Leia Skywalker engage in a brief romantic relationship until finding out, much later in the story, that they’re actually brother and sister.
As far as Blackman goes, he was in a bit of a tough spot. Not only was he watering the seeds planted in The Umbrella Academy comic books, but he also didn’t have much of a cast to work with as all of his main characters are members of this superpowered quasi-family. Whether you’re comfortable with Allison and Luther hooking up, then, is for you to decide.