Gerard Way shares Diego’s backstory, explains Five’s name

Gerard Way continues to share the backstory of the Umbrella Academy characters on his Instagram. After diving into the character traits of Luther a few days ago, Way now takes a look at Number Two, or rather, Diego Hargreeves.

Also known as “the Kraken” in the comic books, Diego’s television specialty is throwing knives with incredible accuracy. However, the dude has some baggage — and Way wastes no time in explaining his backstory.

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After saying that the show did a fantastic job in representing his character, Way goes into detail describing Diego’s relationship with Luther. However, their competition for “Number One” may not be competition at all. Instead, Way describes it as a tactic to encourage the characters to bring out the best in one another.

“Hargreeves numbered Diego Number Two because one of the things that drives Number One, is the tension between him and Diego,” Way says. “I could see one of Hargreeves’ notes being ‘Number 2 hates Number 1. Let’s explore this.’ Diego’s obvious resentment and competition toward Luther pushed them both to be better. This is important. Sometimes the people that challenge us the most provide the opportunity for the most growth, and become our greatest teachers.”

Way then goes on to discuss Diego’s search for himself. However, in doing so, he also explains a key part of the reason as to why the characters are numbered in the first place. According to Way, Five not being numbered is integral to his character development.

That said, this may change our minds about Five becoming Frank Iero’s namesake. Regardless, we can’t wait until Way delves into the other characters, especially Five on his own.

“Diego is on a journey of his own,” Way says. “Diego had to leave the house so he could be Diego and not just ‘Number 2.’ And the only place being Number One got Luther at the end of the day was living alone on the moon. Maybe they’ll learn the numbers don’t matter, as Five did, which is why I feel he embraced his number as a name instead of a rank, and rejected an actual name (which I hope we see one day!).”

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Number 2 AKA Diego Hargreeves AKA The Kraken OK, here’s the next character exploration. Firstly, I LOVE what they did with Diego in the show. His relationship with Mom is wonderful, and is one of the beating hearts of the series. It’s an improvement I welcomed gladly. So Diego, he’s got it tough. He has to be Number 2. In the comic, he can just hold his breath as long as he wants, but in the show, he can throw knives in an unnatural way. I do hope they will explore his power of being able to hold his breath as long as he wants, and I know David Casteneda, the amazing actor that plays him, would like to explore that. It kind of turns him into a gritty, knife-throwing Aquaman, which I think is fun. Now, let’s go deeper. His relationship to Luther— they are important to each other. Hargreeves numbered Diego Number 2 because one of the things that drives Number one is the tension between him and Diego. I could see one of Hargreeves’ notes being “Number 2 hates Number 1. Let’s explore this.”. Diego’s obvious resentment and competition toward Luther pushed them both to be better. This is important— Sometimes the people that challenge us the most provide the opportunity for the most growth, and become our greatest teachers. But it isn’t all about Luther. Diego is on a journey of his own. Diego had to leave the house so he could be Diego and not just “Number 2”. And the only place being Number One got Luther at the end of the day was living alone on the moon. Maybe they’ll learn the numbers don’t matter, as Five did, which is why I feel he embraced his number as a name instead of a rank, and rejected an actual name (which I hope we see one day!). Diego is relentless. His sense of duty and his dedication to justice is unparalleled in the academy. He’s a beast. He is played wonderfully by @castenedawong, who has talked to me about how he wants to further embody the character, and my favorite moment of his is when he is outside the academy with Klaus after “something happens to Mom” (no spoilers) and he starts to stutter. My heart broke. Lots of love. #umbrellaacademy #darkhorsecomics #netflix #numbertwo #diegohargreeves #thekraken #ucp

A post shared by Gerard Way (@gerardway) on Mar 1, 2019 at 10:26am PST

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The Umbrella Academy is now streaming on Netflix. You can watch the trailer for the series below.

What do you think of Way’s latest analysis of Diego? Does this change your mind about renaming Five? Sound off in the comments below.

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