Justin H Min of The Umbrella Academy Reflects on His Character’s Original Death: ‘It’s a Real Discovery’
Spoilers ahead for The Umbrella Academy season 4!
The incident that led to Ben Hargreeves’s death was brushed under the carpet throughout the series. Although the Hargreeves siblings mentioned it as The Jennifer Incident numerous times, they never disclosed the details which only heightened the audience’s curiosity. The cat’s finally out of the bag in the final season!
Ben, played by Justin H. Min was present in the series as a ghost following Robert Sheehan’s Klaus. In the final season, he played a different version of the character who suffered a similar fate which finally revealed the secret that loomed over the show since the beginning.
The incident took place after Ben met Jennifer (Victoria Sawal), a woman created by Durango. Since Durango and Marigold (what created Ben) can not mix, it creates a severe reaction that could have swallowed the timeline.
After Ben and Jennifer’s devastating contact, there was no hope for their survival without destroying the world. So, Reginald chose to let his adopted son die and brainwashed the other siblings by wiping their memories of the event. It was Ben’s death that led to the disbanding of the original Umbrella Academy and it took Reginald Hargreeves’ death for the siblings to reunite.
The most surprising part of it all was that no matter what the timezone, Ben always crossed paths with Jennifer, oblivious of their intertwined fate. In the earlier seasons, Min had to form a story in his mind from the available material to create a connection between his and Sawal’s characters.
The actor revealed that neither he nor the cast knew about Ben’s horrifying and tragic death. Fans assume that the actors know their characters’ fate, but they didn’t until a few months before season four’s production began.
“It’s a real discovery for us, just as it is for the fans as well,” he told PEOPLE. He recalled reading the screenplay of the ultimate showdown and the shock he experienced. “I was just in my apartment in Toronto, in shock, but very, very happy to finally reveal this mystery,” he added.
The Umbrella Academy is now streaming on Netflix!