“It’s definitely the best season yet.” It’s hard not to agree with Ritu Arya about The Umbrella Academy; even from the first episode of season four, the action and suspense are packed in – particularly after the huge showdown at the end of the previous season. “It was so much fun filming this season and there was another level of gratitude and love, knowing it’s the last one,” Arya tells me over Zoom from New York. 

She was last seen in Barbie playing Pulitzer-winning Barbie and starred in the brilliant action-comedy film Polite Society, for which she received a British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) nomination in the category of best supporting performance. Arya also recently starred alongside Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds in Netflix’s most-viewed film of all time, Red Notice. She’s also a musician and is currently working on her debut album – something she’s really excited about.

But now, the actor is back in Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy for its fourth and final season.

In the new season, the Hargreeves siblings have scattered after the climactic showdown at the Hotel Oblivion led to a complete reset of their timeline. Now stripped of their powers, each is left to fend for themselves and find a new normal — with wildly varying degrees of success. Yet the trappings of their uncanny new world prove too hard to ignore for very long, especially when so much is going on.

Their father, Reginald, has stepped out of the shadows and into the public eye, overseeing a powerful and suspicious business empire. A mysterious association known as The Keepers holds secret meetings, believing that the reality they’re living in is a lie and a great reckoning is coming. “As these strange new forces conspire around them, the Umbrella Academy must come together one last time – and risk upsetting the shaky peace they’ve all endured so much to secure – to finally set things right,” reads the Netflix synopsis. 

In the series, Arya plays Lila Pitts – having first joined the show in its second season with the chaos and humour of her character making her a staple of the series and cast. “It’s really fun seeing how Lila in particular isn’t doing so well without her powers. She’s trying to be a normal person but is missing that thrill of her previous life. But she’s a chameleon; she’s very good at playing the part.” In this season, Lila is also a mother to three children, alongside Diego, and is also attempting to balance her life with motherhood.

“She loves her family so it’s fun and interesting to see her balance that mischievous playfulness with being a careful and responsible mother,” says Arya. And we can see this in how she’s grown to love and care for the Hargreeves family, after initially taking quite a dislike to them in earlier seasons, and would stand and fight for them all.

But that mischief hasn’t gone away as Lila is still dabbling in the world of chaos and secrets alongside Five. The actor tells me that the pair match each other even if they do “hate each other’s guts”. “It’s a great dynamic and so much fun to play with Aidan [Gallagher].We had such a laugh.”

For Arya, Lila’s unpredictability will always be her favourite part of playing this character. “She does whatever she wants, and she’ll always surprise you. I feel like I get to tap into a real, childish playfulness, especially when I’m just a big kid myself.”

Watch The Umbrella Academy on Netflix.

Images: Chelsea Gehr