The Umbrella Academy’s Ritu Arya on the most shocking moments of season 3

It’s mid-heatwave when Ritu Arya Zooms in from her London apartment. I soon learn that while Ritu has an abundance of superpowers on-screen in Netflix’s smash hit show, The Umbrella Academy, that doesn’t mean playing the otherworldly assassin, Lila Pitts, has given her the skills to turn off her under-floor heating.

So, Ritu’s career is not the only thing heating up, as she laughs off having to join the interview wearing a sports bra for some much-needed ventilation. But that’s the power of Ritu Arya – despite starring alongside Dwyane Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot in the new Netflix movie, Red Notice – she’s still relatable AF.

It has been quite the journey for Ritu, from starring in BBC’s daytime drama, Doctors, to joining The Umbrella Academy alongside the likes of Elliot Page. And in case you aren’t one of the Netflix subscribers who watched the third series for a record-breaking 124.5 million hours in its first five days of release, the show follows seven siblings who are adopted by a billionaire who trains them up to save the world. The rest is nothing short of gripping carnage, with Ritu’s Lila joining in season two to add more seasoning. And – spoiler alert! – in the latest season, Lila finds out her adopted mother was the one responsible for the death of her birth parents. Just a light plot twist, then?!

Here, fresh from filming an undisclosed role in the new Barbie movie alongside Margot Robbie, Ritu reveals that she never stepped foot in a gym before landing her role in The Umbrella Academy (see, told you she was relatable), finding power in her body and her vulnerability – much like Lila – and how the show’s exploration of Viktor’s (played by Elliot Page) transition illustrates the key message of the show: allyship. And we love to see it…

The Umbrella Academy season three has been a huge success – how does it feel?

It’s mad! It’s f**king cool to be part of a show that’s doing well because you don’t know until it comes out. You’re just hoping people will like it! All the team are really great and, f**k, it’s so nice that you get to celebrate with them. It’s an amazing feeling!

What has playing Lila taught you about yourself and what power has she given you as a person?

Wow. That’s such a good question. She’s so confident with what she wants. She’s uninhibited and whenever I’m playing a character, no matter what, it rubs off on me. It’s interesting this season as she’s processing all the stuff that happened to her before, and she’s in a really vulnerable place, and she doesn’t realise. It was hard because she didn’t feel as empowered this season, which meant I didn’t either. So the thing I learned was to make sure that I don’t take away stuff from my character, still find the power within myself, and try and separate them out because you can get kind of messy.