The Umbrella Academy’s Ritu Arya on the twist that “breaks” Lila in season 2 finale

Arya discussed the fact that her character was actually the adopted daughter of The Handler and, even more importantly, the revelation in the final episode that, like the Hargreeves, she was one of the 43 children born with superpowers.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, she said, "She spent her whole life training to be a highly-skilled assassin, so she has this very hard exterior.

"But when she finds out that it’s the Handler who is the reason her parents were murdered — you can’t really hear anything more horrific, can you?

"That fragility that Lila has underneath the exterior, that comes out naturally and breaks her. When the family come to her and say, ‘you’re one of us,’ I think that’s hard to process."

Speaking more generally about her time on the show, Arya claimed that she enjoyed playing Lila - and that one of the biggest challenges was the freezing weather during the final episode shoot.

"It’s bizarre how much I enjoyed filming episode 10 because we were all really suffering in the cold," she said.

"But I think we went through the trenches together, and I don’t even think about that part because I had so much fun working with the cast. It was the first time I got to film with everyone!

"It’s so much fun paying Lila because she’s so free and uninhibited. She’s got so much power because she finds everything a game. That is such a relief to play that escapism.

"In our world, there are so many pressures to be a certain way or behave a certain way, that to play a character that is so uninhabited is just a dream come true."

The Umbrella Academy season 2 is streaming on Netflix now. Looking for something else to watch? Check out our guide to the best TV series on Netflix and best movies on Netflix, or visit our TV Guide.