The Umbrella Academy was entirely shot in secrecy, including Justin H. Min’s inclusion as Number 6, because of how he was written in the series version.
The Umbrella Academy is the hit Netflix original series that premiered in 2019 and was premised, “A family of former child heroes, now grown apart, must reunite to continue to protect the world.”
Throughout its three-season run, the series has been defined by how secretive its production is. Even before the first season premiered, actors were kept in the dark as much as possible.
This includes Justin H. Min, who had to keep his involvement and his role as Number 6 in the show a secret until it was revealed by Netflix. He kept this secret due to how much he would be included in the series.
Is there a season four of The Umbrella Academy?
The Umbrella Academy returned for its much-anticipated third season in June 2022 following a two-year hiatus, which can be attributed to delays that were induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The third season premiered in June 2022 with 10 episodes which ended with a cliffhanger. In August 2022, Netflix confirmed that the series has been greenlit for a fourth season, which marks the series conclusion.
No official date has been announced for the release of the series finale as of August 2022.
The Umbrella Academy: Why was Justin H. Min sworn to secrecy?
Justin H. Min is one of the fan-favourite actors on The Umbrella Academy as he plays Ben Hargreeves, or Number 6. In the comics that inspired the series, Number 6 has summoning powers and loses his life during a mission.
However, in the series, he remains a main supporting character as a ghost despite his death after being summoned by his brother, Klaus.
Thus, he spends most of his initial screen time as Klaus’ comforter and sometimes truth-teller. It is because of the chemistry between the two characters that they earned the fan-favourite spots.
Furthermore, this has earned Min acclaim as the character, so much so that despite the belief that he would leave the series after his sacrifice in season two, he returned in season three as an alternate version of himself.
Even before the impact that Min had as Number 6, his storyline in the series was already expanded beyond what the comics had explored. Therefore, it is for this reason that Min was meant to keep his role secret.
He corroborated this by explaining on Instagram that at the time, Netflix officials had threatened him that if he revealed his role in the series that he would be “fired, found, and killed.”
However, Min was not the only one sworn to secrecy, the entire series is constituted by secrecy.
Justin H. Min did not know what he was auditioning for
Even before Justin H. Min secured his role as Number 6 on The Umbrella Academy, he understood the extent that the series would go to to preserve the secrecy of the production.
Min revealed that before he got the role, he did not even know that this was the role or series he was auditioning for and that during his audition, all he knew was that he was auditioning for a Netflix series.
Moreover, the scripts that he was given during the audition and for the call back auditions were for unrelated shows. However, even after he secured the role, his agent asserted that, “We have no idea who you are still.”
The Umbrella Academy scripts are shared episodically
One of the other revelations that affirmed how secretive The Umbrella Academy is about keeping details about each season a secret includes a detail about the actors and their scripts.
For long-form shows like The Umbrella Academy, it is standard practice that actors get the entire script as they can plan out their characters’ arcs for the season better.
But The Umbrella Academy fell into the exception of long-form series like Game of Thrones, where the script was delivered episodically so that the actors could be surprised about their character’s trajectory.
Is Justin H. Min in season four of The Umbrella Academy?
Justin H. Min’s character, Number 6, died officially at the end of season two and returned as the alternate version of himself, Sparrow Ben.
In the season three finale, Sparrow Ben survived with Lila and the remaining members of the Umbrellas. Moreover, similarly to the rest of the superheroes, he is in yet another alternate universe with no powers.
Therefore, it does seem that Min will return to reprise his role in the fourth season. However, the details about his character arc in the series finale has been kept under wraps as the series is now known for its secrecy.