‘The Umbrella Academy’: Marin Ireland Addresses Sissy’s Sexuality
One of the new characters on The Umbrella Academy is Sissy played by Marin Ireland. The mother lives in the 1960s and helps out Vanya (Ellen Page.) Ireland talked about her character’s sexuality and working with Page on the Netflix show. [Spoiler alert for The Umbrella Academy Season 2 ending.]
‘The Umbrella Academy’ Season 2 shows Vanya living a different life
Vanya brought on the apocalypse at the end of season 1. Luckily, the Hargreeves family went back in time to escape it by the very end.
We find out in season 2 that they were separately transported into the 1960s. Vanya gets hit by a car by Sissy and loses her memory. She ends up helping Sissy with her son Harlan (Justin Paul Kelly.) Sissy is also married to a man who drinks a lot.
It’s obvious Sissy and Vanya have feelings for each other and they eventually hook up. But Sissy struggles to decide if she should leave her husband.
Their story has a cliffhanger
Vanya accidentally gives Harlan her powers after she saves his life. He almost causes a lot of destruction like she did last season, but she stops him.
Vanya tries to take her powers back from him in the end. The Hargreeves manage to stop the world from ending so they decided to return to 2019.
Sadly, Sissy decides to not go with them and she heads to California with Harlan. The reason why this is a bit of a cliffhanger is we see Harlan still has powers despite Vanya’s best efforts. He makes a toy float in his hand while Sissy is driving away.
Ireland addresses Sissy’s sexuality
Ireland talked to Entertainment Tonight about her role. She believes Vanya really made Sissy realize what’s possible when it comes to relationships.
“My sense of her was definitely as a woman who had never even thought about sexuality as something that could be different than a woman loving a man,” Ireland said. “But then it really felt like there was something about really being genuinely seen by this woman and unlocking something for her in terms of being able to open up and experience real intimacy with this woman.”
Ireland said she enjoyed working with Page to tell this story. “I can’t imagine having done this with somebody else because of how immediately safe and trusting we felt with each other,” she said. “We both feel really proud of what we accomplished with that storyline. It was important to both of us.”
Vanya and Sissy went their separate ways, but there is a chance they could still cross paths in the future. Season 3 of the show isn’t expected to be released until 2022.
