Only the Umbrella Academy showrunner knows what the cube says

The new season of The Umbrella Academy brings seven new (similar) Hargreeves siblings to the herd. In this reality, the enigmatic millionaire (and alien?!) Reginald Hargreeves adopted another group of siblings and raised them as a superhero squad. Dubbed Sparrow Academy, they have vastly different powers than the Umbrella Academy we know and love, and also seem to get along better — at least well enough to project their outward image of an elite crime-fighting crew.

Of all the Sparrows, Christopher is probably the most memorable. Played by newcomer Existential Dread Inducing Psykronium Cube, Christopher is a floating cube that can change temperature and induce fear. And he’s treated like any other member of Sparrow Academy – he hangs out with his siblings, trains with them, and is featured on all Sparrow Academy promotional posters. According to the official character bios, Christopher is also the family mediator, advising his siblings in times of conflict. We love to see it.

However, since he is a cube, he has no mouth and cannot speak. Instead, Christopher speaks telepathically, and on screen that usually means he makes little chattering noises and the characters around him react as if they understand his words. It’s a bit like R2-D2’s beeps and bloops

in the star wars, Blues Little barks in Blues Notesor mug inside The Muppets. As viewers, we have no idea what he’s saying, but the characters clearly know.

Sparrow Academy running on a treadmill, next to a floating cube

Or is it? In fact, showrunner Steven Blackman revealed that Christopher’s lines were never written out.

“But I know what they are,” he explains. “So when the actors say What’s going on here?

I give them a feel for it. We never gave the actors the right lines.”

The Sparrows appeared at the end of the last graphic novel, and although a floating cube is depicted in the panel, Christopher was not properly introduced. However, the production notes for this season indicate that Gerard Way’s version of the character is made out of millions of dead flies (yuck). However, Blackman chose to make Christopher out of “smooth volcanic rock,” which would mean Christopher is from something like obsidian (ba dum tss). Whatever his inner components, he is a powerful ally and clearly a supportive sibling.

Season 3 of The Umbrella Academy is now available on Netflix.