Netflix's 36-Episode Dark Fantasy Series Deserves Credit For Reinventing Itself Each Season

Published Oct 18, 2026, 10:45 AM EDT

Craig began contributing to Screen Rant in 2016 and has been ranting ever since, mostly to himself in a darkened room. After previously writing for various outlets, Craig's focus turned to TV and film, where a steady upbringing of science fiction and comic books finally became useful. Craig has previously been published by sites such as Den of Geek.

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Reinvention is one of the best secret weapons a TV series can pack in its arsenal, and shows like Black Mirror, American Horror Story, True Detective, and The White Lotus have all benefited from an anthology-style format where each season represents a total refresh.

It's infinitely harder for serialized shows with stable casts and multi-season narratives to offer the same kind of novelty. There's Reacher, which retains Alan Ritchson's titular investigator while following a different case each season, but yet the formula of Prime Video's adaptation is too rigid to ever feel truly 'new.' And there are plenty of series similar to The Legend of Vox Machina, which consist of arcs lasting one or two seasons at a time, but ultimately stay in their lanes.

The vast majority of shows are built more like Yellowstone or The Boys, where it's virtually impossible to discern at a glance if an episode is from season 1 or season 5. Or Stranger Things, where the only seasonal indicator is how old the cast members look.

A rare exception would be Netflix's The Umbrella Academy, which ran for four completely unique seasons, despite having a permanent core cast and an ongoing storyline from beginning to end. That's partly because each volume of the comic book The Umbrella Academy is based on also separates itself from the others, but Netflix's TV adaptation works even harder to ensure no single run looks or feels the same as the others.

How Each Season Of Netflix's The Umbrella Academy Is Completely Different

The Umbrella Academy's debut season is a goth-drenched, noirish thriller, like a Lovecraftian Blade Runner written by Tim Burton. Darkened concert halls and dusty mansions are met with time-traveling assassins and steampunk undertones. It's exactly what you'd expect from a comic book written by the singer of My Chemical Romance.

The Umbrella Academy could've quite (un)happily stayed in that vein for another season, but boldly opts for something completely different. Set start-to-finish in the 1960s, The Umbrella Academy fully embraces its new status as a period piece, incorporating everything from hippy culture to nuclear paranoia, luscious rural farmland to suspicious grassy knolls. Barely a frame in The Umbrella Academy's second season looks anything like its predecessor.

That pattern continues in season 3, partly due to the necessity of pandemic filming restrictions. Set almost exclusively in the interdimensional gate of Hotel Obsidian/Hotel Oblivion, The Umbrella Academy season 3 takes viewers through Kubrick-esque hallways, dreamy wedding venues, and kitsch hotel rooms, all of which jolts the Netflix series far away from the ersatz nostalgia of '60s Dallas.

Even in a weaker final season, The Umbrella Academy is rejuvenated. Set in an alternate, rebooted universe, season 4 gives itself permission to go fully dystopian, with secret cults, haunted subways, villainous corporations, and actual monsters. The most horror-inspired season of all, The Umbrella Academy's ending has its problems, but still manages to generate a true 'end of the world' vibe.

The Umbrella Academy's Best Season Justifies The Constant Reinvention

The Umbrella Academy's chameleon-like ability to change its tone and setting each season comes with no small degree of risk. Fans of the gloomy emo era won't necessarily come along for the ride after the series switches to retro Americana. Those who love the retro Americana won't necessarily feel the same about dingy hotels and science fiction-inspired pocket universes, etc.

And yet The Umbrella Academy's ever-evolving palette pays off, as proven by the success of its second season. Relocating to 1960s Dallas represents The Umbrella Academy's biggest swing, and yet season 2 is widely considered the best of the lot (top two, at least). It could be said that the weirder The Umbrella Academy gets, the more viewers buy into the show, and that's testament to the strength of the main cast, whose chemistry anchors the story regardless of how many times The Umbrella Academy regenerates.