Gerard Way’s The Umbrella Academy headed to Netflix

The Umbrella Academy
The Umbrella Academy (Image credit: Dark Horse)

Gerard Way’s comic book series The Umbrella Academy is headed to Netflix.

The former My Chemical Romance frontman created and wrote the series in 2007 in conjunction with illustrator Gabriel Ba. And two years after it was put into development, streaming giant Netflix has scooped up the rights for a 10-episode live action series, which is expected in 2018.

The comics focus on a “dysfunctional family of superheroes” called The Monocle, Spaceboy, The Kraken, The Rumor, The Seance, Number Five, The Horror and The White Violin. Despite their differing points of view, they band together to solve the riddle of their father’s mysterious death.

Way says: “I am thrilled that The Umbrella Academy has found a home at Netflix. I couldn’t think of a better place for the vision Gabriel Ba and myself had when creating the comic, and cannot wait for people to experience that world as a live action show.”

Netflix’s vice president of original content Cindy Holland adds: “What drew us to The Umbrella Academy is that it’s wholly unique, visual and stylised.

“These aren’t the usual superheroes and this series will embrace the singular tone of the graphic novels – dark yet humorous, supernatural yet grounded in reality.

“We’re excited to see this world and introduce these unforgettable heroes to Netflix members around the globe.”

Steve Blackman, known for his work on Fargo, will serve as showrunner, while the pilot script will be adapted from the comics by Jeremy Slater who created Fox series The Exorcist.

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Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers and magazines as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. After initially joining our news desk in the summer of 2014, he moved to the e-commerce team full-time in 2020. He maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott grew up listening to rock and prog, cutting his teeth on bands such as Marillion and Magnum before his focus shifted to alternative and post-punk in the late 80s. His favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Drab Majesty, but he also still has a deep love of Rush.