Marking the release of the third season of The Umbrella Academy, actor Elliot Page appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers and embarked on a conversation about identity, joy, and empathy.
In Season 3 of the Netflix show, Page's character, Viktor Hargreeves, transitions — which, as Mashable's Belen Edwards writes, "the show addresses early on and treats with an immense amount of care. The scenes in which Viktor comes out to his family and discusses realizing he's trans are among the best of the season."
Page discusses this with Meyers, outlining the research and sensitivity that went into this portrayal, with Page working directly with showrunner Steve Blackman and Amateur writer Thomas Page McBee to incorporate it into the show, weaving his own life experiences into Viktor's journey. Page announced he is transgender in December 2020, with a moving letter he posted on Twitter about love, happiness, and the fight for transgender rights.
Speaking to Meyers, Page said, "What I want to focus on right now and has been so extraordinary is the degree of joy that I feel, the degree of presence I feel. I feel a way I never really thought possible for a long, long time."
"We're all on the same team here, whether you're trans, non-binary, gender non-conforming, cis, we all have these expectations, limits, and constraints because of people's obsession with the binary and how we're all supposed to live our lives," he said. "So, to me, it'd be so special for us to all be able to connect and talk about how similar we are in all of our journeys."
No one could have said it better, really.
