Steve Blackman, The Umbrella Academy's
showrunner, has said that he's proud of Elliot Page's transition
storyline on the show's third season.
Page came out as transgender in 2020.
(Related: Elliot
Page says transitioning made him “better in so many facets.”)
Speaking with Entertainment Tonight,
Blackman said that the scripts for the show's third season were
finished when Page came out publicly.
“I had already finished the season,
the writers were gone, scripts were finished and I got a call from
Elliot one day saying, 'I'm transitioning,'” Blackman said. “I
was very happy for him.”
“I didn't want to hang a lantern on
it and make it the sob story of the season. We all agreed that we
wanted it to be something that just happened and let the family react
to it. That was the hard balance to find that.”
Blackman said that he “did not know a
lot about what it is to be transgender” or “how to tell that
story.”
Blackman enlisted the help of GLAAD
Vice President Nick Adams and transgender author Thomas Page McBee to
guide him on crafting Page's storyline.
“I'm really proud of what we did, but
it was definitely collaborative. I needed both of them to really help
guide me,” Blackman said.
Blackman added that Page didn't demand
any changes.
Season three of The Umbrella Academy
is streaming now on Netflix.