Warning: SPOILERS ahead for The Umbrella Academy season 4.

Summary

• The Umbrella Academy ends tragically, with the team sacrificing themselves to prevent more apocalypses.
• Actor David Castañeda was in tears when he first saw the heartbreaking series finale.
• Castañeda believes the ending will be controversial and understands the anger it's received.

After The Umbrella Academy's ending comes after four seasons that have each been defined by an apocalyptic event that the characters are forced to wrestle with. Tragically, the team sacrifices itself in the hopes of preventing more apocalypses.

While David Castañeda (Diego) understands the need for its tragic events, he still its that they were painful to witness. In an exclusive interview with Screen Rant, Castañeda explained that he was "in tears" when he first saw the series finale, as it marked a painful ending to nearly a decade of his life. He expects that it will be controversial, but he understands why there is so much anger. Check out his full quote below:

Well, you sort of convince yourself that it's the right thing. When you're an actor and you're trying to make it as grounded and as real as possible, you got to trust the journey. You got to trust the journey that the people that are writing this know exactly how they want it to end. But yeah, when I saw it, yeah, I was in tears. I was in tears, because it represented much more than just, "Oh, these characters are dying or disappearing or whatever."

It represented my six-seven years in this project. It represented the comfort that it gave people at home, and you're seeing them just sort of disappear. I'm sure there's going to be people that are going to be very angry. I'm already seeing it online actually. Some people are like, "How dare you!" [Laughs] But you can't leave it open like that and then expect people to — you give them false hope. I guess that's the thing.

Why The Umbrella Academy's Series Finale Is So Divisive

Every Major Character Is Gone

There has never been a more heroic action by the Umbrella kids than sacrificing themselves to save the universe. Every Hargreeves sibling embraces their new powers and still agrees to set them aside to make the ultimate sacrifice. In a show about characters with dubious motivations, it is a tragic and bittersweet ending that forever defines its heroes. Unfortunately, it is not especially satisfying after the two-year wait for a shortened season 4. With just six episodes, as opposed to its previous 10, the show struggled to fit its ending into a short frame.

The ending also disregards themes from previous seasons. Instead of confronting the concept of family and the horror of Reginald's treatment of them, the ending instead blames the Hargreeves for existing. Their deaths are used as an inevitability, rather than something to be fought or disproved. In a show once focused on the need to fight for independence and to build relationships despite trauma, forcing the characters to sacrifice themselves and to abandon those themes altogether is a divisive move.

Even had the themes been perfect, killing off the main heroes solely to protect a universe that has not been properly defined is a conclusion that can struggle to feel worthwhile. The wider world has been explored in the show, but it is never defined quite as well as its major characters. The Umbrella Academy has featured four seasons of character development, which helped the audience and the actors connect with them for years. Killing all of those characters may be a touching ending, but it has proven to be controversial.