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SYFY WIRE The Umbrella Academy

Listen to Gerard Way's cover of 'Hazy Shade of Winter' for Season 1 of The Umbrella Academy on Netflix

By Josh Weiss
Ellen Page Pogo The Umbrella Academy Netflix

The cool thing about adapting a comic book written by a rock star into a TV show is that the musician might perform a song or two for the series. That's exactly what happened for The Umbrella Academy, whose first season arrives on Netflix next month.

Writer of the popular Dark Horse comic Gerard Way teamed up with his old My Chemical Romance bandmate Ray Toro to cover "Hazy Shade of Winter," a track originally conceived by Simon & Garfunkel in the mid-1960s that explores themes like hope and the passage of time.

Way and Toro's version starts off like Vangelis' score for the first Blade Runner before building into an energetic punk rock-esque ballad more in line with the late-'80s cover done by the Bangles.

It's a nifty rendition of a classic single that matches the lively spirit of a show that promises to mix the quirk of Wes Anderson with the badassery of the comic book genre. We'd also be remiss if we didn't mention the work of artist Gabriel Bá, whose visuals in the books will be heavily referenced in the live-action adaptation.

Listen below:

Ellen Page leads the show's cast as Vanya Hargreeves/White Violin, the member of a family of dysfunctional superheroes known as "The Umbrella Academy." The group was established by Sir Reginald Hargreeves (played by Colm Feore) in the late '80s after he adopted a number of children born under very mysterious circumstances.

Rounding out the loving Hargreeves troupe are: Tom Hopper as Luther/Spaceboy, a man with the strength of an alien simian; Robert Sheehan as Klaus/The Séance, who can commune with the deceased; Emmy Raver-Lampman as Allison/The Rumor, who can make things true just by talking about them; David Castañeda as Diego/The Kraken, a gruff Batman-adjacent vigilante with deadly accuracy; and Aidan Gallagher as Number Five, who can travel through time.

In addition, Mary J. Blige and Cameron Britton play Cha-Cha and Hazel, two mask-wearing assassins of very little remorse. Kate Walsh, Adam Godley, Ashley Madekwe, and John Magaro also have starring roles. Godley's character, Pogo, is perhaps the most interesting, as he is a talking CGI chimpanzee.

Season 1 of The Umbrella Academy premieres on Netflix Friday, February 15.