The Umbrella Academy Season 4 Ending Explained, Including Post-Credit Scene

The Umbrella Academy season 4 has arrived and not only brought the series to a close, but revealed major story beats that haven’t yet been confirmed in the pages of Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá’s comic series. With the final six episodes of The Umbrella Academy now available to watch, the ending of the story has brought with it major surprises and huge revelations, but they’re also moments which could very cause some confusion. Spoilers will follow, but if you’re having trouble wrapping your head around concepts like Marigold and Durango, the truth of Ben Hargreeves death, or even what the heck the ending even means, we’re here to help. Oh, did you also wait for The Umbrella Academy post-credit scene? It might make you rethink the entire conclusion. Again, Spoilers for The Umbrella Academy!

Umbrella Academy: Marigold and Durango explained

It’s been established that Marigold is the tiny glowing particle that gives The Umbrella Academy (and The Sparrow Academy, and The Phoenix Academy) their superpowers. We saw this not only in the first episode of the series when all of them were born, but also in season 4 when they drink the Marigold and regain their abilities. What The Umbrella Academy season 4 reveals is that Marigold was actually created by Reginald Hargreeves’s wife, Abigail. 

After Abigail created the Marigold element, the very essence of the universe. As she explained it, a second particle was created at the same time she originally synthesized Marigold, called Durango. When Durango and Marigold interact it creates a physical reaction that results in extinction level events, aka The Cleanse, aka the thing so many people are afraid of in The Umbrella Academy season 4. As a result, any combination of Durango and Marigold will end the world…again.

Umbrella Academy: How Did Ben Die?

Ever since the first issues of The Umbrella Academy comic, as well as the first episode of The Umbrella Academy TV show, fans have wondered, how did Ben Hargreeves die?The mystery of Ben’s death has haunted the TV series just as much as The Umbrella Academy comics. How did Ben Hargreeves die? It has to do with the Marigold and the Durango. 

Prior to the new season of The Umbrella Academy, the only thing that viewers knew about Ben Hargreeves’s death was that it occurred on an official Umbrella Academy mission and has since been labeled “The Jennifer Incident.” The arrival of a new character named Jennifer in episode 2 of season 4 (played by Victoria Sawal), likely sets off alarm bells for some viewers, but it’s the next episode when the entire Umbrella Academy realize that something is amiss about their memories, especially when they all repeat the same line about his death. Even Five interrogates everyone if they even remember how he died, prompting them to hop into a machine owned by the current timeline Hargreeves to unlock their memories.

The Umbrella Academy season 4 episode 4 begins with the big answer, revealing that “The Jennifer Incident,” occurred during a mission where Hargreeves sent the young Umbrella Academy to destroy a weapon inside a shipping crate. He gave them strict instructions not to open the container with the weapon. Naturally however when they get to the container, Ben hears a person inside, and opens it to reveal, who else, Jennifer. After they pair touch their hands, something happens, resulting in two gunshots from behind killing both Ben and Jennifer. The camera then reveals that Sir Reginald Hargreeves himself, having witnessed Ben and Jennifer touch and potentially start a cleanse, arrived on the scene and killed both of them, knowing that the Marigold in Ben’s body and the Durango in Jennifer’s would result in the end of the world. Instead, he killed them.

Umbrella Academy: Ending Explained

So as you can imagine, Ben and Jennifer meeting in this new timeline and without Hargreeves there to stop them, begins the process of The Cleanse. Not only does it cause the two of them to mutate into a giant monster, but by the end of The Umbrella Academy‘s final episode, the team realize that there’s no way to stop it, but Five has an idea. 

After a conversation with himself in a diner filled with variants of himself, Five reveals that the creation of The Umbrella Academy by the Marigold has shattered the timeline, resulting in all the different timelines across the series (including an alternate version of Five creating The Commission to try and repair everything). To stop The Cleanse they need to embrace it, allow the Marigold in their bodies to merge with The Cleanse/Bennifer monster, and end all of the alternate timelines and never be born. They agree to be erased from history, and come together in a final moment to embrace their fate, facing it together.

 As the end approaches and the cleanse begins to consume them, Allison says, “Maybe we’ll see each other again.” Five agrees, adding, “That would be nice.” In the end they’re all consumed…and all the alternate timelines begin to disappear, collapsing back into just one timeline.

At the end of the series, the one true timeline is revealed, showing off a perfect sunny day in the park featuring a host of returning characters from the entire series including Kate Walsh as The Handler, The Swedes, Cameron Britton’s Hazel, and more (Umbrella Academy series artist Gabriel Bá even appears). The scene is set to Tommy Jones & The Shondells’ “I Think We’re Alone Now,” calling back to the show’s first ever episode when the Tiffany version of the song was used as a dance montage.

Reginald Hargreeves concludes the episode with the narration, “On the twelfth hour of the eighth day of August, 2024, absolutely nothing out of the ordinary occurred. you might say, it was just a normal day.”

Or was it?

Umbrella Academy Season 4 Post-Credit Scene Explained  

As the credits roll on the last episode of The Umbrella Academy, a montage of behind-the-scenes photos reveals the making of the entire series. It’s a touching moment, but that’s not all. As the final credits hit the camera returns to that peaceful park where “nothing out of the ordinary occurred.” The camera lingers on a tree and pushes in, revealing eight marigolds sprouting from the ground together.

 If you recall Alison’s final words, “Maybe we’ll see each other again,” it becomes clear that The Umbrella Academy have been reborn as Marigolds together in this new and final timeline. Does it mean the Marigold itself will cause more super powered people to be born? Will the story continue? Probably not, in short, it’s a happy ending for the family after what seemed like a nihilistic conclusion. Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, Ben, Viktor, and Lila are alive, just as flowers.

All four seasons of The Umbrella Academy are now streaming on Netflix.