When is The Umbrella Academy season two released on Netflix? Your guide

"It’s being taken out of the Umbrella Academy world, the only world we’ve seen so far, which is them inside the house and around that small town," star Tom Hopper told RadioTimes.com. "We’re now taking them into this whole new world where they’re going to be tested in different ways.

And now, ahead of the series' new episodes Netflix has unveiled the action-packed first scene of the episode, which sees all seven siblings unleashed in a pitched battle with soldiers. We heard a rumour that it blew your mind...

Based (pretty loosely) on the comic books by My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, The Umbrella Academy follows a group who exhibited supernatural powers at birth and were adopted by an eccentric billionaire to form a crime-fighting family. (Follow the link to have The Umbrella Academy powers explained).

With the comics consisting of three volumes, hopefully a third instalment of Netflix's The Umbrella Academy is in the works, but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet!

Read on for everything you need to know about season two - and if you need a little bit of a recap we have The Umbrella Academy season 1 recap and ending explained for you.

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**WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SEASON ONE**

When is The Umbrella Academy season two released on Netflix?

Netflix has confirmed season two will land on Friday, 31st July.

Showrunner Steve Blackman previously suggested it would take the team around 18 months to make the next season, which means it's now arriving bang on time.

Way, who penned the comic books has previously revealed he plans to keep the series from overtaking the books, as Game of Thrones did towards the end.

“The goal for us is to stay ahead of the show, and since we’re on series three [of the comics], we are now ahead of the show," he said.

"So that’s a good thing. The idea with the comic is to go right from series three, take a three-to-four-month break, then go right into series four. That is kind of our schedule to keep us on track. So there is story there and it’s all planned out.”

The first two volumes of The Umbrella Academy were published back to back in 2008, before there was a 10-year break while Way focused on other projects.

Is there a trailer for The Umbrella Academy season 2?

There is! Jumping right back in after season one's cliffhanger, the new Umbrella Academy season 2 trailer shows Five (Aidan Gallagher) discovering another apocalypse kicking off in 1963, apparently caused by his time-displaced siblings who've been scattered throughout the years prior.

The trailer also features deadly new assassins, bare-knuckle boxing, teleportation, cult worship, civil rights struggles and nuclear explosions - just another week in the life of the Hargreeves siblings, in other words.

Previously, there was also a fun teaser video shared alongside the release date announcement.

The clip showed the actors who play the Hargreeves children dancing around their own homes to the soundtrack of Tiffany's I Think We're Alone Now during lockdown.

They appeared somewhat bored with isolation, each adding some of their character quirks to the quirky announcement video.

Check out the video below.

Who's in the cast of The Umbrella Academy season 2?

**WARNING: contains spoilers for The Umbrella Academy series one**

Since season one ended with a dramatic cliffhanger after The Umbrella Academy were forced to turn on one of their own, Vanya (Ellen Page) to stop her in her mission to try and destroy the world with her apocalyptic fire, it's good to hear all the main The Umbrella Academy cast are returning for round two.

The first season concluded after Vanya destroyed the moon, causing havoc on Earth and leading the rest of the Academy to jump back in time with the help of Number Five (Aidan Gallagher) in order to put a stop to the apocalypse earlier in the timeline, when they were still children.

Tom Hopper, David Castaneda, Emmy Raver-Lampman and Robert Sheehan have also signed on for season two, leading us to assume the young versions of the Academy won't be sticking around for too long, though Gallagher will be reprising his role as the time-travelling Number Five.

And star Tom Hopper gave us a hint of what to expect from his character in the 1960s.

"He’s only grown up and existed in the Umbrella Academy," he told RadioTimes.com. "It’s the only thing he’s ever known, and he’s gone through this whole kind of drama in season one of finding out his dad sent him to the Moon for no reason, and all these changes in his body.

"And then he gets thrown into 1960s Dallas, where he’s actually got to survive on his own, now. And it turns out his body and the things that have gone wrong for him in season one are the things that make him thrive a little bit more in this world that he ends up in in Dallas. He ends up becoming a weird little hero."

As well as the returning cast members, there are a number of new faces joining the Netflix series for season two.

New cast members include Yusuf Gatewood, Ritu Arya and Marin Ireland - with each playing an intriguing new character.

Gatewood, who played the Horseman Famine in Amazon’s Good Omens and has also appeared in The Originals, will play Raymond. A born leader, Raymond is described as a man “with the smarts, gravitas, and the confidence to never have to prove it to anyone. He is warm, dedicated and has the innate ability to disarm you with a look.”

Arya (who has starred in Channel 4’s Humans, The Good Karma Hospital, Last Christmas and the most recent series of Doctor Who) will play Lila, described as “a chameleon who can be as brilliant or as clinically insane as the situation requires.”

And finally, Marin Ireland (Sneaky Pete, Hell or High Water) is set to play a woman called Sissy, “a fearless, no-nonsense Texas mom who married young for all the wrong reasons.”

What happens in The Umbrella Academy season 2?

Netflix has already released a surprisingly spoiler-y synopsis (below), which reveals that Five's time-travelling powers go wrong when they escape Vanya's apocalypse - and somehow cause a potential nuclear war in the 1960s, where the siblings end up.

A number of stills from the upcoming series were released earlier this year to give fans a taste of what's to come.

The first-look images show the cast dressed in typical 60's attire as the siblings have been transported back in time to stop the apocalypse.

Follow the link for an Umbrella Academy season one recap – or if you want the Umbrella Academy timeline explained in chronological order, we've got you covered there too.

As for season two, the official Netflix synopsis reads, "Five warned his family (so, so many times) that using his powers to escape from Vanya’s 2019 apocalypse was risky. Well, he was right – the time jump scatters the siblings in time in and around Dallas, Texas. Over a three year period. Starting in 1960. Some, having been stuck in the past for years, have built lives and moved on, certain they’re the only ones who survived."

It continues, "Five is the last to land, smack dab in the middle of a nuclear doomsday, which – spoiler alert! – turns out is a result of the group’s disruption of the timeline (déjà vu, anyone?). Now the Umbrella Academy must find a way to reunite, figure out what caused doomsday, put a stop to it, and return to the present timeline to stop that other apocalypse. All while being hunted by a trio of ruthless Swedish assassins. But seriously, no pressure or anything."

Netflix has also released a main poster for the new season, with clues hidden in the reflections of all the Hagreeves' sunglasses, including: a newspaper headline revealing war has been declared; a festival (possibly Woodstock); and people dressed in typical 60s attire.

More recently, Netflix also introduced new character Lila with a new poster which seems to hint at her connection to existing cast member Diego.

Gallagher spoke about season two last year, telling RadioTimes.com: "Will it be mind blowing? Yes, it will be way better than season one. Our showrunner Steve is the best writer and has the best writing staff. It will be epic. I can’t wait to film all of it."

If Blackman follows the comic book series exactly, the second series will see the surviving members of the Academy, stuck in the past, attempt to change the course of history and prevent the end of the world by assassinating John F Kennedy (who, as it turns out, was not assassinated in the world that Number 5, Spaceboy and co inhabit).

Way has already given Blackman an 18-page document that spells out the narrative of the comic book.

But Way adds he has a “mutual respect” for Blackman should he feel the need to make changes to the screenplay.

“It’s cool because Steve is super respectful of the source material and asks me questions and sometimes, he’ll ask me to help solve problems. Then, at the same time, he’s going, and because there’s a mutual respect, he’s going and making changes and I’m supporting those changes,” Way said. “I want him to feel free to tell the story he wants.”

“The goal is not to diverge. Not everything translates from the graphic novel page to the screen, but there’s a legion of fans and I want to bring in a whole new legion of fans who’ve never read the graphic novel, so the goal is not to just go off in our own direction,” Blackman said. “I like Gerard and Gabriel’s ideas so much, the goal is keep on trucking behind them, beside them.

"Things will deviate, but the goal is to try to be true to the source material.”

For more insights on the second season, read our Umbrella Academy season 2 review.

The Umbrella Academy season one is available to stream on Netflix now – check out our lists of the best TV shows on Netflix and the best movies on Netflix, or see what else is on with our TV Guide