The Temps Commission Character The Umbrella Academy Fans Can't Help But Love
Netflix's deliciously offbeat superhero saga "The Umbrella Academy" became one of the streamer's biggest hits when it first came out in the early days of 2018. Since the series' head-spinning debut, its popularity has only grown, too, with fans of the show desperate to learn what's next for the super-powered Hargrees siblings — even as "The Umbrella Academy" creatives continue to populate their wild world with fresh faces.
Of course, new faces hardly come a shock on "The Umbrella Academy," anymore, as the one thing the series has always had in spades — besides endlessly quippy dialogue, and hyper-violent set pieces — is colorful characters. And yes, those characters go well beyond the super-powered siblings at the story's center. That was particularly true in the second season of the series.
In its sophomore outing, "The Umbrella Academy" introduced audiences to a trio of blonde assassins, a wise-cracking mental patient with a surprising secret (Ritu Arya's Lila Pitts), and several new faces who worked for the infamous timeline adjusting Temps Commission. As it turns out, one of the Commission brass who featured prominently in Season 2 has become a legitimate fan-favorite character among dedicated fans of the show. Surprisingly, it's not the fashion-forward autocrat we came to know and love as The Handler (Kate Walsh), but instead a key figure behind the resistance to her would-be regime.
This is the Temps Commission character "The Umbrella Academy" fans cannot help but love.
The Umbrella Academy fans can't help but love Commission heavy Herb
The Commission character in question is Ken Hall's small in stature, but big on brains analyst-turned-boss Herb. And though Herb has only made six appearances on the series, the character has indeed become a favorite among series die-hards. Redditor u/solowinniuk even showed Herb some serious love via a Reddit appreciation thread that called for other users to shout out their love of Herb from the mountaintops, accompanied by a picture of the Temps Commission analyst standing tall.
The comments section was soon flooded with adoring posts about the character. U/HenryTGibson wrote, "Herb is the real hero in season 2," and u/FA5411 promptly chimed in with, "He is a great character, and he is the great leader of the resistance (I really loved that group by the way), and I got happy for him in the ending." Another user soon posted, "I love me some Herb!" Elsewhere, u/SpeckledSetterBean added that the character was, in their words, "Perfectly written. Perfectly cast. Perfectly acted. chef's kiss spectacular!!!," and u/Starboy1492 proclaimed Herb the Season 2 all-star, writing, "Herb is MVP this season."
There was a lot more love being bandied about for Herb and the actor who portrayed him in the thread. And even as the character's status is currently unknown regarding future seasons of "The Umbrella Academy," it's hard to believe the series' creative team wouldn't go out of their way to bring him back in some capacity, now that he has become a clear fan-favorite character.
Ken Hall loves Herb as much as the fans do
Herb was not the only character on "The Umbrella Academy" that Ken Hall had a hand in creating, however, with one Redditor noting that, indeed, the very same actor stood-in for the body of old Pogo in the series' first season, with Adam Godley providing the character's voice and facial expressions — meaning Hall helped craft two of the series' most memorable characters.
Still, Hall made clear in a 2020 interview with Looper that he has as much love for Herb as any fan. As the actor stated, playing both Pogo and Herb was a particular treat as it allowed him to see the production from several angles. As for his love of Herb, Hall stated that he genuinely identified with the character, and loved how playing him offered improv opportunities that befitted his acting skills. Elaborating further on this, Hall said, "My experience with working with the different directors on 'Umbrella' is that they seem to be very open to adding improv, because it's just an extension of the writing. So yeah, there are a lot of moments when I get to riff and create stuff." Hall continued, "It can be a really cool place to do brainstorming and do a lot of collaborative work in real time as you're figuring it all out."
Hall clearly helped figure Herb out in Season 2 of "The Umbrella Academy," and the series was all the better for it.