Where All 43 Sparrows Are Hidden In The Umbrella Academy Season 2
The Umbrella Academy's highly bingeable nature doesn't only derive from its irresistible family dynamics, superpowered battles, and tantalizing mysteries that weave throughout each season. The blockbuster series is also home to a plethora of Easter eggs that reward a careful viewing. Once you've finished every available episode — and while you're wondering will there be an Umbrella Academy season 3 — you might want to go on a very challenging visual scavenger hunt that the show's creators included to keep viewers hooked.
The darkest Easter egg everyone missed on The Umbrella Academy season one turned out to be a major hint at the ending, courtesy of Grace's embroidery skills, and as with the first season, there are small details you probably missed in Umbrella Academy season 2. For example, did you see The Umbrella Academy season 2's Watchmen Easter egg? That said, the visual scavenger hunt is by far the most detailed and time-consuming to appreciate.
The creative team behind the series revealed the following challenge for repeat viewers: There are 43 sparrows hidden in The Umbrella Academy season 2. Here's where to find them all.
Showrunner Steve Blackman dropped the sparrow challenge during a Reddit AMA
Perhaps you were one of those eagle-eyed viewers who spotted the sparrow motif hidden throughout the show the first time around, but for those who were distracted by the dance numbers and conspiracy theories, The Umbrella Academy showrunner Steve Blackman made sure everyone knew about the challenge. At the end of a Reddit AMA, Blackman thanked users for their questions, and let them know that there were 43 sparrows hidden throughout the show.
Why 43? Blackman didn't say, but presumably it's because that's how many previously not-pregnant mothers gave birth on the 12th hour of October 1, 1989. How many children resulted from these unplanned pregnancies remains unknown, considering the possibility of triplets, twins, and such.
Netflix revealed a few more details about the sparrows in the the penultimate episode of season 3 of its podcast, Behind the Scenes. The series' VFX supervisor Everett Burrell told host Brandon Jenkins that his team was tasked with going back through the footage and adding at least some of the sparrows.
The Umbrella Academy team did a good job hiding the sparrows
Even a fully caffeinated Five (Aidan Gallagher) would struggle to muster the resilience it would take to find all 43 sparrows without any hints. Luckily, on August 20, 2020, Netflix posted a video to its UK and Ireland YouTube channel that revealed all of the sparrows' hiding places.
Most of them are positioned at the side of the screen, which not only makes them harder to find but also less distracting for people watching the season for the first time. Not interested in the full monty, but want a couple hints? Look for logos — on paint cans, a wine bottle cork, a candy bar in the vending machine Five uses, or the dairy truck the Swedes steal. If there's a pile of files in a shot, chances are one of them has a sparrow printed on it. The kill order the Handler (Kate Walsh) authorizes against Lila's parents even has one — to the left of the red stamp. You should also keep an eye out for signs. You'll see sparrows on the safety sign in the warehouse where Lila (Ritu Arya) fights Five, or the one above the axe Five takes to kill the Commission's board members.
You can take these hints or watch the video for a full rundown. You can also do neither, and kill the time between seasons two and three scoping every shot for the sight of a sparrow. Who says birdwatching can't be cool?