Elliot Page Will Continue To Star In 'The Umbrella Academy' As Netflix Updates His Past Credits
Following Elliot Page's announcement that he is transgender, Netflix confirmed that the actor will continue to play the role of Vanya Hargreeves in The Umbrella Academy. The character, one of the lead roles in Netflix's major superhero series hit, will reportedly remain a cisgender woman.
Variety reports that Elliot Page will retain his role as Vanya Hargreeves in The Umbrella Academy, the superhero series based on the comic book series of the same name written by Gerard Way. The character of Vanya is a cisgender woman who has the superpower of unleashing force through the use of sound. Page, who yesterday in a message on Twitter announced that he is a gender non-binary transgender person, will continue to play the character with no current plans to change the character's gender, according to Variety.
"I love that I am trans. I love that I am queer. And the more that I hold myself close and fully embrace who I am, the more I dream, the more my heart grows and the more I thrive," Page wrote in his powerful, heartfelt statement.
— Elliot Page (@TheElliotPage) December 1, 2020
The streamer has proven to be a great ally to Page, updating Page's name in the metadata across all titles he is involved with that are currently available to stream on Netflix. Page, who has starred in hit films such as Juno and X-Men: Days of Future Past, has already had his credited name updated on The Umbrella Academy's IMDB page.
Page came out as gay during a speech at the Human Rights Campaign's "Time to Thrive" conference in Las Vegas, after having previously been outed in 2005 by filmmaker Brett Ratner on the set of X-Men: The Last Stand. Page specifies in the above note that he now goes by he/him and they/them pronouns.
Though the support for Page was widespread across social media and among other celebrities, many wondered whether his announcement would prove a problem for The Umbrella Academy. But the show, which follows a group of adopted sibling superheroes who team up to solve the mystery of their father's death (and ward off a potential apocalypse), is in the very flexible superhero genre, meaning that any potential changes to characters' genders could ostensibly be worked into the story. But as sources tell Variety, that likely won't happen as the show intends to keep Vanya as a cisgender woman.
The Umbrella Academy recently aired its second season in July. It has been renewed for a third season by Netflix.