Kate Walsh, Ellen Page Among Cast for Netflix Adaptation of Gerard Way’s ‘The Umbrella Academy’
Back in 2007, My Chemical Romance were going strong off the success of The Black Parade album and singer Gerard Way took some time to dip his toes into the comics word, creating and writing a six-issue limited series titled The Umbrella Academy. Fast forward a decade-plus and many accolades later, and an Umbrella Academy series is in the works for Netflix. According to Deadline, former Grey's Anatomy and Fargo actress Kate Walsh has just been added to the cast in the recurring role of The Handler.
Walsh joins a growing cast that already includes Ellen Page (Vanya / The White Violin), Tom Hopper (Luther / Spaceboy), Robert Sheehan (Klaus / The Seance), Emmy Raver-Lampman (Allison / The Rumor), David Castaneda (Diego / The Kraken) and Aidan Gallagher (Number Five / The Boy). Other actors cast in the series include Mary J. Blige, Colm Feore, Cameron Britton, Adam Godley and Ashley Madekwe.
The Umbrella Academy focuses on a dysfunctional family of superheroes who work together to solve their father's mysterious death. Jeremy Slater is writing the series based off of Way's graphic novels.
Walsh's character is known as The Handler. She serves as the confident and charming leader of a bureaucratic company with a knack for managing any situation. The series is expected to premiere later this year.
As for Way, he's managed to balance work as a solo artist with his continued fascination with the comics industry. He started up an imprint for DC Comics called Young Animal, with the Eternity Girl series being the most recent series of the Young Animal umbrella that was launched in March of this year.
See My Chemical Romance in the Top 100 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 21st Century