The Umbrella Academy season 4 ending explained: how does the Netflix show end?

The wait is over: The Umbrella Academy season 4 has finally arrived on Netflix, wrapping up the story of the Hargreeves siblings once and for all. The final installment only has six episodes compared to the usual 10, so there's a lot to pack in and a lot of loose threads to tie up – especially with the introduction of some new faces, played by The Last of Us' Nick Offerman, Parks and Recreation's Megan Mullally, and Arrested Development's David Cross. 

It's natural, then, that you might have some questions about what went down, especially in that action-packed season finale. That's why we've broken down everything right here in our complete guide to The Umbrella Academy season 4 ending explained, but be warned: major spoilers lie ahead for The Umbrella Academy season 4, so turn back now if you're not up to date with the new episodes and don't want to know what happens!

The Umbrella Academy season 4 ending explained

The Umbrella Academy season 4 finale begins with the Keepers sending out a signal – their followers drop everything and assemble in town with guns, as Gene and Jean are mobilizing an army to prevent anyone (ie. the Hargreeves) from stopping the Cleanse, caused by Ben and Jennifer. Gene quickly puts a spanner in the works, though, by suddenly killing Jean with a katana. Except, it's later revealed, Gene was actually Abigail, Reginald's wife, in disguise.

Meanwhile, Lila and Five have made it back to their own timeline after their six-and-a-bit-year stint in the time-hopping subway. No time at all has passed in their timeline, however, so they're keeping what went down to themselves. Diego realizes that something is up, though, and tensions rise between the trio. 

Reginald thinks Ben and Jennifer should both be killed, but Viktor wants to talk to them and pretends to be a Keeper in order to sneak into the building where they're being held. Well, that, and he uses his powers to blast the head off the guy who tries to stop him.

When he gets inside the building, he sees that Ben and Jennifer are in a pretty bad way. The conflicting marigold and durango particles have spread and both of them are covered in a glowing, pulsing rash all over their skin. The two refuse to be separated.

Claire sees news about "protestors" guarding Ben and alerts the rest of the family, who then set off to help. Lila gets Five to finally regain control of his powers with a pep talk, and he manages to get them all inside the building.

A sniper working for their father has also managed to get in, however, and shoots Ben. He and Jennifer begin to morph together into one huge, growing being. As if that wasn't enough to worry about, a fight breaks out between Diego and Five about Lila. She tells Five their affair is over, and he teleports back to the subway in a sulk.

We find out that Abigail is responsible for creating marigold and durango, and therefore responsible for the Cleanse. Disguised as Sy Grossman the whole time, she reveals all to Reginald and says she purposely worked to bring about the Cleanse as her "penance" and he should never have brought her back to life at the end of season 3. Both she and Reginald are consumed by the Ben-and-Jen creature.

Five spots another version of himself at the subway station and follows him to a delicatessen, where all the other employees and customers happen to also be different versions of Five from other timelines. One of them tells him that the Hargreeves ruined the timeline and created all the broken ones: in short, the family is the problem. Marigold, the thing that gave them their powers, shattered the timeline and created all the other alternate ones, which are now bleeding into each other, and that's why the Keepers are having dreams of other timelines. They need to erase marigold from the universe to stop the world from always ending: they need to use the Cleanse to erase the Hargreeves from existence.

Five returns and relays this information to Lila and his siblings, and they realize sacrificing themselves is the only way forward. Allison's daughter Claire and Diego and Lila's kids are sent to the subway with Lila's parents so they can travel to another timeline in order to save themselves from the Cleanse. Lila tries to go with them, despite the pleas of the others – she also has marigold in her, so also risks breaking the universe. However, she steps off the train at the last minute after Five follows her and convinces her to stay and sacrifice herself. They all gather in the Hargreeves' old house and wait for the Cleanse, while Allison and Viktor put their differences behind them and Diego and Lila reconcile. The Cleanse engulfs the house, taking the siblings and Lila with it.

The final scene shows people enjoying themselves in a park on a sunny day – among them are Claire, Lila's parents, and Diego and Lila's kids. It's August 8, 2024, "just a normal day".

What is the Cleanse?

The Cleanse is a mass extinction event that would erase the timeline. In other words, it's another looming apocalypse for the Hargreeves to deal with. The Cleanse is caused by Jennifer, who has a particle called durango in her. When mixed with marigold, the particle found in the Hargreeves (and Lila), catastrophe follows – but more on those particles later.

Who are the Keepers?

The Keepers are a group of conspiracy theorists who believe in the existence of other timelines after they began having vivid dreams about them. This was caused by marigold, which shattered the timeline and created all the other timelines that started to bleed into one another. The Keepers are led by Gene and Jean, played by Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally, who take on cult leader-like roles.

What is marigold?

Marigold is the reason the Hargreeves have their powers. It's a particle invented by Abigail, Reginald Hargeeves' wife and the siblings' adoptive mother. In the process, we learn that she also accidentally invented another particle, durango, which is inside Jennifer. When marigold and durango combine, they cause total extinction, AKA the Cleanse. 

Who is Jennifer? And what is the Jennifer Incident?

We first meet Jennifer in season 4, episode 2, when the Hargreeves head to the town of New Grumpson, Maine, in an effort to rescue her after her father Sy Grossman (although it's eventually revealed that Sy was actually Abigail all along) begs them to help him find her in episode 1. When the siblings arrive, Ben storms off to a diner, where he meets Jennifer, the manager. When he realizes who she is, he hurries her back to Diego's minivan and the group tries to make a speedy getaway, until conspiracy theorists Jean and Gene crash into them and kidnap Jennifer.

In season 4, episode 3, we get Jennifer's backstory. When she was a young girl, she was discovered inside a huge squid. When asked how she got there, Jennifer simply says "the Cleanse," and this is why Jean and Gene are interested in her – they want to find out everything she knows about the extinction event so they can instigate it themselves. Ben eventually finds her, and the pair escape.

Reginald reveals he built New Grumpson to protect Jennifer from his kids. None of them can remember exactly how Ben died – Reginald wiped their memories of her, too. 

There have been references to the "Jennifer incident" as the cause of Ben's death since season 3, but we don't find out exactly what that entailed, other than the fact that it was an Umbrella Academy mission gone wrong, until season 4, episode 4. 

The siblings are told they have to locate and destroy a weapon before a dangerous arms deal goes down. Their only other instructions are to keep the weapon contained and not to open the box in which it's stored. However, it turns out the weapon is Jennifer and, when Ben hears her inside the box, he defies orders to get her out. When their hands touch, there's a pulse of energy (as the marigold in Ben and the durango in Jennifer combine) and Reginald shoots them both dead. 

Will there be The Umbrella Academy season 5?

No, there won't be a fifth season of The Umbrella Academy. Season 4 is the final installment of the show, as confirmed by Netflix and showrunner Steve Blackman. "I think we got to what I feel is a very natural ending, the right ending for the show," Blackman previously told SFX magazine. "It’s a surprise ending, but I think it’s a good ending."

All episodes of The Umbrella Academy season 4 are now streaming on Netflix. For more, check out our The Umbrella Academy season 4 review and our guide to The Umbrella Academy season post-credits scene.

Once you're done, fill out your watch list with our picks of the other best Netflix shows available now.