The Umbrella Academy season 4 will provide many long-awaited answers, including what Reginald Hargreeves’ (Colm Feore) real motivations are, and I think I know what these are – but they’re bad news for the team. Despite its success throughout three seasons, Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy is ending with its fourth season, but there are a lot of mysteries and questions to address and solve. The Umbrella Academy season 3 ended on the show’s biggest cliffhanger, as Reginald’s custom-made timeline became a reality even though he was killed by Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) before he could finish the timeline’s reset.

This resulted in the Hargreeves arriving at a timeline where Reginald and his wife are alive and well, Reginald is the most powerful man, Allison has the family she wanted with her daughter and her 1960s husband, Sloane is missing, and the Hargreeves and Lila are now powerless. The Umbrella Academy season 4 trailer revealed the Hargreeves will regain their powers soon, but this season has many more things to solve, including Reginald’s real motivations throughout the whole series, and I think I know what those motivations are, based on one scene from season 1.

Reginald Has Been Testing Different Umbrella Academy Teams To Save His Planet

Reginald Might Be Looking For The Perfect Team

Season 3 revealed Reginald’s real plans and why he adopted seven superpowered children, but it seems there’s a lot more to that.

Among the mysteries The Umbrella Academy has to solve in season 4 are what’s the “Jennifer incident” that led to Ben’s death and where Sloane is, but there’s still more to learn about Reginald and his motivations. Speaking to Total Film (via Games Radar), The Umbrella Academy showrunner Steve Blackman revealed there will be another apocalypse in season 4 though it will be different, they will find a way to make the Hargreeves superheroes again, and Reginald’s motivations will be explained. Season 3 revealed Reginald’s real plans and why he adopted seven superpowered children, but it seems there’s a lot more to that.

The Umbrella Academy season 3 revealed that Reginald needed seven people to power the timeline machine inside Hotel Oblivion, but doing so was killing the Hargreeves. Allison had a last-minute change of heart and saved her siblings by killing Reginald and pulling the lever, but it seems like powering the machine was only part of a greater plan. Reginald’s past is mostly a mystery, but his motivations might be rooted in that, and a scene from season 1 might be key to explaining them: the one where he released the marigolds while his wife was dying and his home planet was being destroyed.

Season 4’s trailer teased the formation of another team, so it’s possible there have been more across the multiverse as Reginald has been looking for the most powerful combination of superpowered children to save his home planet.

This, along with using his adopted children to power the timeline machine, make me believe that Reginald has been testing different team combinations to find a way to save his home planet. So far, the show has seen two teams – the Umbrella and Sparrow academies – and season 4’s trailer teased the formation of another team (but with six members), so it’s possible there have been more across the multiverse as Reginald has been looking for the most powerful combination of superpowered children, powerful enough to save his home planet.

Saving a planet from destruction could lead to the deaths of some or all of the team’s members.

Reginald’s fascination with time travel is also part of the plan, as once he finds the best team, he only has to go back in time with them and use them to save his planet – the problem is that, no matter how powerful and skilled the kids are, saving a planet from destruction could lead to the deaths of some or all of the team’s members, but Reginald will only care about saving his people.

Reginald’s Home Planet Could Be Future Earth

Reginald’s Planet Might Not Be What It Seems

A Reddit theory makes a good point about Reginald’s planet possibly being future Earth.

Reginald’s plans could be all about saving his planet, but his home planet might not be too different from Earth. A Reddit theory makes a good point about Reginald’s planet possibly being future Earth, based on the only time The Umbrella Academy has shown it. The author of the theory explains that Reginald leaving his planet was actually him traveling back in time, and Abigail giving him the violin (which he later gave to Viktor) is a key detail, as a violin might not be something you find on an alien planet.

This could have led Reginald to find the best team of superpowered children who would be able to handle and stop the apocalypse.

The author suggests Reginald is an alien who arrived at Earth and helped humanity advance, but he was unable to prevent the apocalypse seen in the season 1 flashback. Connecting to my beliefs explained above, this could have led Reginald to find the best team of superpowered children who would be able to handle and stop the apocalypse, and the original Umbrella team and the Sparrows proved they couldn’t do it at their own time – but now that they know everything they know and have gone through so much, they would be more capable of handling an apocalypse.

Then again, this is a huge risk for them as some or all the Umbrellas/Sparrows could die while saving the world. The Hargreeves dying would fit Blackman’s comments about making them superheroes again, but that doesn’t make it any less heartbreaking, especially after all the tragedies they have already gone through.

What Could Reginald’s Motivations Be In The Umbrella Academy Season 4?

Reginald’s Motivations Could Be A Surprise

Reginald might no longer want to train a team of superpowered kids to save his planet and his wife.

Now that Reginald is in a timeline where his wife is alive, his motivations could have completely changed. Reginald might no longer want to train a team of superpowered kids to save his planet and his wife, and instead, his interest could be in saving his perfect timeline from destruction. Blackman had previously teased that the new timeline isn’t perfect as it wasn’t finished, so there could be some glitches that could threaten it.

Reginald and the Hargreeves could make a deal: he restores their powers to save his timeline and, in exchange, he will send them to their correct timeline. The Umbrella Academy season 4 might have some shocking and heartbreaking surprises up its sleeve, and it’s to be seen if Reginald can be trusted this time or not.