The Umbrella Academy season 3 post-credits scene explained: How does it set up season 4?

Emmy Raver-Lampman, David Castañeda, and Robert Sheehan in The Umbrella Academy season 3
(Image credit: Netflix)

The Umbrella Academy season 3 has arrived on Netflix with a bang. And, in typical Umbrella fashion, the time-hopping superhero show has left more questions than answers in its wake. We've done our best to answer most of these in our guide to The Umbrella Academy season 3 ending explained, but there's one key moment we haven't covered in there: the post-credits scene. 

That's right – make sure you hang around after the credits start to roll on episode 10 because, yes, there is a post-credits scene. Well, mid-credits if we're being precise, so you don't have to wait it out for too long. And we do recommend waiting, because you won't want to miss this.

Before we dive into the post-credits scene, there'll be some discussion of major spoilers for The Umbrella Academy season 3 post-credits scene ahead, so make sure you turn back now if you haven't finished all the latest episodes just yet. 

The Umbrella Academy season 3 post-credits scene explained

The Umbrella Academy season 3 episode 10 has a mid-credits scene that sees Ben (Justin H. Min) sitting on the subway in Korea, reading a book. The question on everyone's mind: which version of Ben is it? 

Season 3 sees two sets of Hargreeves siblings face off against each other after the original family disrupts the timeline by confronting their father, Reginald Hargreeves, in 1963. Upon seeing how his future children turned out, the eccentric billionaire decides to adopt another batch of superpowered infants instead – and they become the Sparrow Academy.  

While six of the Sparrows are brand new characters, one is a little more familiar: he's a different version of Ben, one who's alive and nastier than his Umbrella counterpart. The latter doesn't appear in the new season, as he walked into the light and left this earthly plane during season 2 – well, until the mid-credits scene. 

This Ben's hairstyle suggests it's the Umbrella Academy version as opposed to the Sparrow Academy version – Sparrow Ben wears his hair spiked up, whereas Umbrella Ben has slicked-back hair, like the man on the train. In the brief scene, Ben looks up from his book and smiles.

The train is familiar, as it's the same one that Ben's parents are on during the opening scene of season 3 episode 1. The season opener sees Ben's mother and father share a kiss on the train, before his mother rapidly carries a pregnancy to term in a matter of seconds and promptly gives birth to Ben.

So, how come Umbrella Ben is now alive? Well, that probably has something to do with the universe resetting. In order to stop the world from ending due to the Kugelblitz caused by the Umbrella Academy returning to the present day, the Umbrella Academy hit the reset button hidden in the Hotel Oblivion. After this, a previously deceased Luther comes back to life – so why wouldn't the same be true for Ben? For now, we'll have to wait until (the currently unannounced) The Umbrella Academy season 4 arrives to get a conclusive answer to that question. 

For more on the Hargreeves, check out our guides to The Umbrella Academy season 3 ending explained, The Umbrella Academy season 3 timeline, and who is Harlan Cooper in The Umbrella Academy.

Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.