In this week’s episode of Bingeworthy, our TV and streaming podcast host Mike DeAngelo powers up to discuss “The Umbrella Academy.” The Netflix series follows a group of former child superheroes that must reluctantly reunite again and again to save the world. The final season stars Elliot Page, Robert Sheehan, Tom Hooper, Nick Offerman, David Cross, Megan Mullally, and more.
Joining Bingeworthy to discuss the superhero series is one of the show’s stars, Robert Sheehan, who plays Klaus. During the interview, Sheehan discussed first joining the show despite becoming well-known in the UK for playing a superpowered character who, like Klaus, was also basically immortal.
“First, I was like, ‘I think this might be too close to territory you’ve been in before, perhaps,” Sheehan admitted. “But then, after reading the very first script, I had loads of chats with the showrunner, Steve Blackman, and the first director. And they took me through the journey of the first season. I realized there are similar aspects between the two, but the journeys they go on are wildly different, so they will ultimately be changed and become two different people as a result. And also, I thought, well, it’s been over ten years, you know? So I thought, ‘Well, that’s enough time to go back and embrace the mischievous, chaotic side of my nature again for the purposes of character.”
Klaus has become a fan-favorite character of the series thanks to Sheehan’s natural wild and unpredictable aura, and, much like the other academy members, he’s gone through many iterations and versions of the character. When asked if Sheehan has a favorite version of Klaus, he was quick to admit that one season was particularly fun.
“Despite the fact that Cult Klaus was kind of reluctant about the cult and frankly was over the cult and was tired of all these people hanging on his every word, I did really love doing that stuff,” Sheehan said. “I loved doing all the stuff with the cult where he’s in a little loincloth, and he’s getting it in the ear from Ben when he says, ‘You’ve got to cut these people loose! These people have real lives! You’re an absolute lunatic!’ And he goes, ‘All right, all right, all right — listen, I’ll go out there, and I’ll tell them’ and all that stuff where he basically tells them it was a complete lie, and they all can’t hear it. They can’t see beyond their own noses at this stage. All of that holds a real fondness in my heart.”
So, what’s Klaus up to this season? Fans might be surprised to find that the formerly immortal character is now a shell of his former self.
“[He’s a] basement-dwelling, buttoned up, anally retentive Klaus who bubble wraps the world. That was really fun as well,” Sheehan said. “There was one or two people in my head that I was doing to bring all of that fear to Klaus – to make him a germaphobe and quite melancholic in nature. My friend Frankie was saying that his parents are so melancholic in their expression that they could make the hokey-pokey sound like a funeral song, you know? The idea that anything joyful can be made to sound really sad and like the end of the world. And so the fourth season of Klaus was a real subversion in that it ‘threw out all of the spontaneity and the recklessness.”
Sheehan was announced to be taking part in the long-gestating “Red Sonja” remake by director MJ Bassett (“Solomon Kane,” “Silent Hill: Revelation,” “Reacher”). The original cult classic film followed a fearless warrior who set out to avenge the death of her family and starred Brigitte Nielsen and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The remake has been in limbo since going into production in 2022, but Sheehan confirmed that it’s coming soon, he’s seen some of it, and, most interestingly, that it’s been delayed due to disagreements behind the scenes.
“I did recently see some of [‘Red Sonja’], yeah,” Sheehan confirmed. “We shot that in god knows when – 2022? It’s one of those where the director is quite ballsy, and so there was a big discussion about what the final edit should be between herself and the producers. So I think they’ve successfully crested that hill now – I know they have because I was in Birmingham doing a play recently— I was doing ‘Withnail & I,’ and I did a load of additional dialogue recording for ‘Red Sonja.’ So I did— I saw a lot of bits of my parts, and that means that the thing is locked, and they’ve finally agreed on what the movie is. So, in terms of when it comes out, I’ve no earthly idea, but I know that it’s finished, so progress has been made.”
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The final season of “The Umbrella Academy” is currently streaming on Netflix. Listen to the full interview below.
