Warning: spoilers for The Umbrella Academy season 4.
Summary
The Umbrella Academyseason 4 was full of twists and shocking reveals, and one of the biggest ones was about Abigail Hargreeves (Liisa Repo-Martell), who was key in triggering the final apocalypse. After three seasons of apocalypses, time travel, and more,The Umbrella Academyhas ended with its fourth season, which arrived with answers to the show’s biggest mysteries but also left a couple of unanswered questions. After finding themselves in Reginald’s (Colm Feore) timeline atthe end ofThe Umbrella Academyseason 3, season 4 caught up with them six years later.
The Hargreeves did their best to live normal lives for the first time but were brought back together as a team for a rescue mission. The Umbrellas (with Lila and Sparrow Ben) were tasked with finding Jennifer (Victoria Sawal), but this forced them to ask their father for help. In addition to that, the mission led to dark truths about Jennifer, Ben’s (Justin H. Min) death, and the nature of the new apocalypse. The biggest reveal about all this was Abigail’s involvement, and she had strong and personal reasons for it.
The Umbrella Academy Season 4 Ending Explained
The Umbrella Academy has ended with its fourth season, which saw the final apocalypse and some shocking reveals that changed the team’s lives.
What Happened To Abigail Hargreeves Before The Umbrella Academy Began
Abigail Was First Seen In A Flashback In Season 1
Abigail was dying, and she gave Reginald her violin (which years later was given to young Viktor).
Abigail was first seen in a flashback inThe Umbrella Academyseason 1 but didn’t make her official debut until season 4. Abigail was Reginald’s wife, and in that season 1 flashback, they were shown on their home planet, which was being destroyed. Abigail was dying, and she gave Reginald her violin (which years later was given to young Viktor). Shortly after, Reginald took the marigolds jar and released them, thus creating the 43 superpowered children who were born on July 09, 2025.
Abigail died, their planet was destroyed, and Reginald traveled to Earth, where he built his empire and later went after the 43 children and adopted seven of them.The Umbrella Academyseason 3 revealedReginald was keeping Abigail’s frozen body in a capsule on the dark side of the moon, and this is why he had sent Luther to the moon after the Umbrella team had split.The Umbrella Academyseason 4 revealed what happened to Reginald and Abigail’s planet, and it was the latter’s fault after creating the marigold and durango particles.
Why Abigail Hargreeves Wanted The Cleanse To Happen
The Cleanse would get rid of the broken timelines and restore the main one.
The Umbrella Academyseason 4 revealed the origin of the marigolds that created the 43 superpowered children and also the existence of an opposite and destructive particle named “durango”. Abigail explained to the Hargreeves and Lila that, when she created the marigold particle, an opposite one, durango, was created. When interacting with a marigold,durango created an unstoppable physical reaction, triggering the end of the world.The Umbrella Academyseason 4 also introduced the Keepers, a group who believed they were in a broken timeline and were waiting for an event called “The Cleanse”.
Abigail felt very guilty, and the Cleanse was her way of setting things right again.
According to the Keepers, the Cleanse would get rid of the broken timelines and restore the main one, and, to everyone’s surprise, they were right. The Cleanse was the apocalypse, though one with effects across the multiverse, and as much as Reginald and the Hargreeves tried to stop it, Abigail turned out to be the reason why it was happening.Abigail told Reginald that dying was her punishment for creating something so destructive as durango, and she shouldn’t have been revived. Abigail felt very guilty, and the Cleanse was her way of setting things right again.
Abigail questioned Reginald about releasing the marigolds before their planet was destroyed, as that caused the shattering of the main timeline and countless apocalypses across the multiverse. Abigail was determined to set things right and make the Cleanse happen, and for that, she came up with an elaborate plan that began with disguising herself as Sy Grossman.
How Abigail Hargreeves Manipulated Everyone As Sy Grossman
Abigail Came Up With A Dark But Brilliant Plan
Grossman gave the Hargreeves a box with objects from the Keepers he claimed to have found in Jennifer’s car, and among them was a jar of marigolds.
Sy Grossman (Daniel Cross) kidnapped Viktor so he could bring all the Hargreeves and Lila together.Grossman explained he was Jennifer’s fatherand she had joined the Keepers, so he wanted to find her. Grossman gave the Hargreeves a box with objects from the Keepers he claimed to have found in Jennifer’s car, and among them was a jar of marigolds. Thanks to it, the Hargreeves regained their powers (though against the will of most), but when they found Jennifer, she didn’t know a Sy Grossman and told Ben she was raised in the town they found her in, and the sheriff was her uncle.
Sy Grossman later arrived at a Keepers meeting and presented himself as Denny Muntz, a member of the Keepers from another charter. However, Grossman suddenly killed Gene (Nick Offerman) in the same way Reginald killed Luther in season 3, andrevealed himself to be Abigail in disguise. Abigail then disguised herself as Gene and later killed Jean (Megan Mullally) so the Cleanse wouldn’t be stopped.
Abigail posing as Sy Grossman was key to her big plan, as thatallowed her to bring the team back together, give them their powers back by facilitating the marigold jar to them, free Jennifer from Reginald’s prison town, and trigger the cleanse by prompting her contact with a marigold host.
Is Abigail Hargreeves Still Alive When The Umbrella Academy Ends?
Abigail & Reginald’s Fates Are Unknown
The Hargreeves accepted their fate and let themselves be consumed by the Cleanse, thus restoring the main timeline.
Reginald understood Abigail’s point and welcomed the end of the world by her side, as they let themselves be consumed by the Cleanse. Ben and Jennifer ended up merging into a monstrous creature that grew bigger and bigger and consumed everything, and Five learned (thanks to his variants) that the only way to stop the Cleanse from happening again was by sacrificing himself and his siblings. As they had escaped from other apocalypses, the timelines were reset, and they were doomed to end the world over and over again.
The Hargreeves accepted their fate and let themselves be consumed by the Cleanse, thus restoring the main timeline. The final scene inThe Umbrella Academyshowed the main timeline and characters from past seasons living completely different, normal, and happy lives, butthe Hargreeves were nowhere to be seen as they had erased themselves from history. Reginald and Abigail weren’t there either, butif the Hargreeves never existed, then Abigail diedand Reginald never released the marigolds, and he might have also died when his planet was destroyed.
The Umbrella Academy
The Umbrella Academy is based on the comic book of the same name created by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá. The Hargreeves — collectively known as The Umbrella Academy — were born with superpowers, and their adoptive father utilized their abilities. However, as they grew older, the siblings grew apart as they dealt with their trauma. They are brought back together after their father dies and Five returns from the future with grave news: The world will end, and The Umbrella Academy has to stop it before it happens.
