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The stars of The Umbrella Academy, Robert Sheehan (Klaus) and Tom Hopper (Luthor) sat down with the hosts of Talk From Superheroes to discuss their favourite Sparrow Academy member, Tom's muscle suit, Klaus's powers and more!
Full transcript below:
From Superheroes: Welcome and congratulations on season 3!
Tom: We’re happy to be here.
FS: We’re happy to have a season 3. So in this season we meet the Sparrow Academy, they’re kind of your antagonists of the season, they’re a new superhero team, who would you say is your favorite member of the Sparrow Academy?
Robert: I’m just going to have to say everyone … actually you know who I liked a lot, Alphonso!
Tom: Alphonso’s very funny.
Robert: He’s great, he’s really funny. There’s a bit where he picks up a tote bag and hands it to you.
Tom: *laughing* He comes in and gives it to me.
Robert: I spat out my tea in that moment.
Tom: I think they all have such amazing strengths. From a personal standpoint I loved working with Genesis who played Sloane, that relationship was great to work through. I really loved watching the new Ben. I think this version of Ben is amazing. Very funny and this kind of weird like super guy – you expect him to come out with a Dr. Evil cat at some times. I thought he was excellent. No they all have amazing strengths.
FS: Tom when we spoke in season 1 you mentioned that the body suit could get a little overheated and a bit much. Has the body suit evolved from season 1 to 3? Is it more comfortable now? Please tell me it is.
Tom: It has! It has evolved. It’s slimmer. Between season 1 and 2 we made [Luthor] slimmer because I was like, listen, what’s with the paunch? It’s this weird sort of paunch thing.
Robert: That’s a strong man thing, like Eddie whatshisname?
Tom: Eddie Hall?
Robert: Eddie Hall. Yeah he’s got a big cask of a belly.
Tom: Yeah huge barrels on those guys. [Luthor] was verging on like strong man belly, so we slimmed him down, we got him on the chicken and broccoli diet and we slimmed him down a little bit. The thing is the Toronto heat, in the summer, there’s no escaping it. As soon as I put the suit on with the clothes on top of the suit, the make-up [department] are like, getting the gloss off my forehead all the time.
Robert: I worked with a guy who was one of the stunt dwarves on The Hobbit and they had cooling systems in the dwarf suits but after awhile they stopped using them because they was messing with their heat regulation systems.
Tom: I had the same thing in season 1. They had that cooling system but I couldn’t – it’s like you almost need to acclimatize to it so you get used to it. So the hardest time for me usually is at the start of the season when I first start going into it and then by the end of the season I’ve got used to it again.
FS: Now did the suit get smaller or have you just gotten bigger, fitness-wise? Is your fitness goal to get big enough that you don’t even need the suit in future seasons?
Tom: Well that was the plan in season 1. So I put a ton of weight on for the start of season 1 and then they said “actually we’re just going to use this” - *mimes a muscle suit* - they brought out this giant turkey.
Robert: A big Christmas turkey. Justin Cornwell did lots of training as well for the start of the season – he plays Marcus, the leader of the Sparrows – and I was in his trailer one day and on the counter he had like some M&M’s, some chips, a chocolate bar, just sitting there as a reward for after he had shot all of his topless scenes. He’s like, just over the hill to treats.
Tom: That’s the goal. But it’s more like a mirage.
FS: Robert, I’m very interested in Klaus’s powers. In season 1 Klaus is a little afraid of his powers, he’s tamping them down, in season 2 he kind of accepts them a little more to talk to Ghost-Ben, but now Ghost-Ben is gone, so what’s Klaus’s relationship with his powers in season 3?
Robert: Yeah, I think [Klaus] sort of intuits that he has to – you know there’s a line that Reginald Hargreeves says which is “the great power inside you turned into a liability, you sort of, unfortunately, exist in a bit of a victim mentality where you’ve taken something in the past and you’re using it as a continual excuse to starve your progression further” so Klaus has to kind of reluctantly face up to that and then suddenly lots of big shiny green lights go “woo” and you know, he can make ghosts scared and stuff. But also I think Death is the thing of his power, you know, we’re all somewhat fascinated by the old vast abyss of death but he has to figure out essentially, the crux of his power lies in being able to pass between “The Void” which is a sort of post-life arena and then the material world. And that sort of makes him a very dangerous piece on the chess board because suddenly all of the material world rules don’t apply to him, but they apply to everybody else.
FS: Well that seems like a burden and a lot to figure out. We’re excited for everyone to see it. Robert and Tom thank you for your time and thank you for season 3.
The Umbrella Academy Season 3 premieres Wednesday, June 22 on Netflix
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