The Umbrella Academy is coming back. Or, should we say, The Sparrow Academy? Four months after Netflix dropped Season 2 of the superhero series — which concluded with Sir Reginald leading a new timeline and newly named team — the streaming service announced The Umbrella Academy will have a Season 3, delivered in 10 episodes, per usual for the series.

The news doesn't come as too much of a surprise. Not only was the series' second season the most-watched across all streaming, per Nielsen data, but Production Weekly reported Season 3 would begin shooting in early February, and wrap up in August. (The Umbrella Academy's Twitter account verified the shooting start on Tuesday.) Along for the ride a third go-round are all the usual suspects, including Aidan Gallagher, Ellen Page, Tom Hopper, David Castaneda, Emmy Raver Lampman, Justin H. Min, Colm Feore, Ritu Aryu, and Robert Sheehan.

The news might placate fans eagerly waiting for its return — but doesn't answer the question: when will The Umbrella Academy return? Though, obviously, Netflix has not released a hard date, looking at the series' history can allow us to work backwards to an answer. Speaking with Indiewire last year, showrunner Steve Blackman — who is also returning for Season 3 — said a season takes about 18 months in its entirety to produce. But, since we know Season 2 started filming in June 2019, and was released on July 31, 2020, we could assume that Season 3 will drop on Netflix in spring of 2022. (Of course, that doesn't account for any possible complexities introduced by COVID-19, though, it should be noted Netflix has an industry reputation for being more prepared than most.)

As for how much Season 3 will delineate from Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá's comic book series of the same name will be an interesting question for fans. Though Season 2 followed The Umbrella Academy: Dallas, The Sparrows are introduced at the end of the third installment, The Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion (and the fourth, not yet released, is titled The Umbrella Academy: The Sparrow Academy). But Blackman did tell Inverse that some of the plot is derived from the graphic novel, like the appearance of Ben. "I will only say this given the fact that some of this is in the graphic novel," he said. "But they are new people. They're not our characters. They are different people, and that's all I can really say."

Anyone worried about a massive departure that shakes the franchise, however, should not fret — Aidan Gallagher confirmed with The Dipp this summer that Blackman works in lock step with The Umbrella Academy's graphic novel creators. "The writers — Steve [Blackman] and Gerard and Gabriel — they really work with each other to resemble the two worlds that they create, but also keep their distance so that as fans, we get to happily move from one universe to another," Gallagher told Linda Maleh.

It will be along wait before we're able to explore Season 3's new universe, but, as we wait for spring 2022, stop and smell the Reddit theories.

Image: CHRISTOS KALOHORIDIS/NETFLIX