Excitement is building for the Friday release of season 2 of The Umbrella Academy, and Netflix have been stoking it in the last few days with a poster referencing a classic cover from the comic book series. Now, a new image has dropped that reveals the baby version of super-intelligent chimpanzee Pogo, who plays a key but tragic role in the first season of the show. With early reviews already coming in for the new run, this glimpse at Pogo highlights the role of Sir Reginald Hargreeves and the roots of the Umbrella Academy in the 1960s.
In the image, which you can catch below, Pogo is a chimp being trained for a mission to space, something that may or may not result in him returning to Earth with advanced intelligence. Pogo was shown in the first season of The Umbrella Academy as Sir Reginald’s loyal assistant, and the master of the academy mansion. During the course of the season, Pogo is forced to share secrets about Sir Reginald’s death, and meets a violent end at the hands of Vanya as her powers spiral out of control.
The new space reveal might not be an origin story for Pogo, per se, as the series previously indicated that a serum made the character intelligent. However, it could be that Pogo was gifted the serum before or after his mission to space. Of course, various primates were sent into space by different governments to test out the effects of new technologies, something that Pogo is most likely involved in.
Cuteness aside, it’s good to see that Pogo will be making a comeback in season 2 of The Umbrella Academy, which will be set in and around Dallas, Texas in the years leading up to the 1963 Kennedy assassination. And so far, it looks like it’ll be able to top the first season in terms of apocalyptic mayhem.