Elliot Page has revealed that his ‘Umbrella Academy’ character Vanya Hargreeves will come out as transgender and be known as Viktor Hargreeves in the upcoming third season of the Netflix superhero series.
The 35-year-old actor announced the news on his Twitter and Instagram accounts on Tuesday, sharing a first-look photo of himself on the show with the caption: ‘Meet Viktor Hargreeves.’
Page came out as transgender in December 2020, and Variety reported that Viktor will also use he/him/his pronouns in the new season, which will debut on June 22.
Elliot Page has revealed that his ‘Umbrella Academy’ character Vanya Hargreeves will come out as transgender and be known as Viktor Hargreeves on the Netflix show’s third season
‘Meet Viktor Hargreeves.’ the 35-year-old actor captioned the first-look photo
The ‘Juno’ star played Vanya — a cisgender woman with the ability to harness sound and convert it into energy — in the show’s first two seasons.
Netflix confirmed that he would continue to star in ‘The Umbrella Academy’ after he came out, but sources told Variety at the time that there weren’t any plans to change his character’s gender.
The streaming site celebrated the introduction of Viktor on social media on Tuesday, writing: ‘Welcome to the family, Viktor — we’re so happy you’re here.’
The news comes just a few weeks after the release of the long-awaited first trailer for show’s third season.
Page’s character was still being referred to as Vanya in the teaser, making the actor’s post the first allusion to the upcoming transition storyline.
Page’s character was still being referred to as Vanya in the new season three teaser, making the actor’s post the first allusion to the upcoming transition storyline
The second season of the show ended with the Hargreeves having stopped the apocalypse after traveling back in time to 1963, only to return in 2019 to find that they have significantly altered their timeline.
In the altered timeline, Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore) had not founded The Umbrella Academy, but instead The Sparrow Academy.
The new season will follow the Sparrows as they ‘immediately clash with the Umbrellas in a violent face-off that turns out to be the least of everyone’s concerns,’ according to the description.
‘The Umbrella Academy’ was renewed for a third season back in November 2020, but production was delayed due to COVID-19.
Page’s introduction of Viktor comes just a few days after he returned to the Oscars on Sunday to celebrate the 15th anniversary of his beloved movie ‘Juno.’
Page played Vanya, a cisgender woman with the ability to harness sound and convert it into energy, in the show’s first two seasons
Netflix also celebrated the introduction of Viktor on social media on Tuesday
He joined his ‘Juno’ co-stars Jennifer Garner and J.K. Simmons on stage at the 94th Academy Awards, with all three of them paying tribute to the indie flick.
Page’s portrayal of Juno MacGuff, a pregnant teenager who offers to give her baby up for adoption to a local couple, landed him an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.
However, he was secretly struggling with gender pressures during his rise to stardom following the success of the film.
‘I remember it felt so impossible to communicate with people how unwell I was because obviously there is so much excitement,’ he told Oprah Winfrey for Apple TV+’s The Oprah Conversation in May 2021.
‘The film unexpectedly became a big hit, I became quite known, all these things and I felt I couldn’t express just the degree of pain I was in.’
Page, who came out as transgender in December 2020, attended the Oscars just a few days before the announcement
Page added that he could not look at himself in the vintage Jean-Louis Scherrer dress he wore to the Oscars when he was nominated for Best Actress.
Since coming out as trans and transitioning, he said that, for the first time in his life, he has been able to feel happy in his own body.
Before arriving at the Oscars on Sunday, Page took a moment to advocate for transgender rights on his Instagram account.
He shared a series of posts about the Trans Week of Visibility + Action, a digital campaign to fight anti-trans legislation across the U.S.
Page has become an outspoken advocate for transgender rights, using his own experiences to highlight the importance of support for trans youngsters the world over.
Page reunited with his ‘Juno’ co-stars Jennifer Garner and J.K. Simmons on stage at the awards show to pay tribute to the indie flick
Before heading out on-stage, he snapped a quick selfie backstage, which he posted on his Instagram Stories
During his interview with Winfrey last year, he also opened up about his ‘life-changing’ top surgery,’ saying it ‘completely transformed [his] life.’
The procedure to remove breast tissue is typically performed on transgender men who have started undergoing hormone therapy.
‘Getting out of the shower and the towel’s around your waist and you’re looking at yourself in the mirror and you’re just like, “There I am,”‘ he said, getting choked up.
‘And I’m not having the moment where I’m panicked. I’m not having all these little moments that used to be — just being in a T-shirt. It’s being able to touch my chest.’
He also stressed the need to demonstrate to others just how important this surgery can be — particularly ‘because there is such an attack on trans health care right now, when already there is such a lack of access or trans people who don’t even want to go to the doctor.’
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk