Who Is Lester Pocket In Umbrella Academy Season 3? Meet Callum Keith Rennie
Umbrella Academy has its own fair share of great supporting characters that were able to play important roles in the series, even though the events focus on the Hargreeves siblings. Nevertheless, there are some new characters that were able to have pivotal parts in the series, and the list includes an old man named Lester Pocket in season 3. So, who is Lester Pocket in Umbrella Academy?
Lester Pocket is just the new name that Harlan Cooper used after he got his powers. That means that this old man is the grown-up version of the Harlan that Vanya/Viktor saved all the way back in season 2. However, because he and his mother were always in trouble because of his powers, he changed his name.
Harlan Cooper didn’t play too big of a role during the events of season 2, even though he did have his own part near the end of the season. But his new identity as Lester Pocket had a bigger role to play in the events in season 3 as, without him, the entire plot would not have happened. With that said, let’s look at who Lester Pocket is in Umbrella Academy season 3.
Who Is Lester Pocket In Umbrella Academy?
The story of Umbrella Academy is kind of a mess because of how it involves them changing timelines, traveling through time, and doing it all in just a matter of days (at least for Number Five). After they end up saving the world from an apocalypse, they end up triggering another one again because that’s just how problematic the Hargreeves siblings are. With that said, that is exactly what happened in season 3 of Umbrella Academy.
At the end of season 2, we learned that the Umbrella Academy siblings went back in time to 2019 after eliminating the Commission and were allowed to use a briefcase to return to their original time. Nevertheless, when they got back to 2019, they realized that the timeline had changed because of the fact that they met their father, Reginald Hargreeves, back in 1963. That is why Reginald adopted an entirely new set of kids and ended up forming the Sparrow Academy.
Reginald was so disgusted by the Umbrella Academy’s lack of chemistry and discipline that he needed to go and get seven new children instead (with the exception of Ben because he never met him in 1963). With that, the Umbrella Academy siblings were ousted from their home and were forced to live in the Hotel Obsidian.
But while they were trying to make sense of what had happened in that timeline, Number Five discovered that the Grandfather Paradox had been triggered. This is a dangerous paradox that happens when someone in a timeline shouldn’t exist because their descendant died in the past but still ends up being in the timeline. And this paradox was triggered when the Umbrella Academy kids were in the Sparrow timeline even though their mothers had been killed before they were even born.
It was the death of the Umbrella Academy mothers and their existence in that timeline that triggered the Grandfather Paradox, which summoned the kugelblitz, which is basically a black hole that was slowly sucking the entire universe. In that regard, the apocalypse now involves the entire universe.
While Five was trying to find an answer to their problem, the Sparrow Academy attacked the Umbrellas because they believed that they had their leader, Marcus, who they didn’t know had been sucked into the kugelblitz earlier. The Sparrows were about to kill the Umbrellas until an old man had arrived to save them.
This old man had been revealed early in the season but remained a mystery. All we know was that he was a man named Lester Pocket and carried around a suitcase full of cassette tapes that he listened to using his Walkman. He ended up checking into the Hotel Obsidian as well and was there in time to help the Umbrellas by using powers that were similar to Viktor’s. That was when Viktor was able to instantly recognize who this old man was, especially after he displayed powers that were familiar.
Is Lester Pocket Harlan Cooper?
The reason why Viktor knew who Lester Pocket was can be attributed to the fact that the old man used the same powers that Harlan Cooper displayed back in the events of season 2. So, in that regard, Lester Pocket is simply Harlan Cooper.
As a quick recap, Harlan is the son of the family that took care of Viktor when he was still Vanya during the events of season 2. Vanya, after getting transported through time by Number Five, ended up getting hit by the vehicle of the Cooper family, as they nursed her back to health and allowed her to stay with them. The entire family became messed up with Vanya falling in love with Sissy Cooper.
Meanwhile, Sissy’s son Harlan ended up drowning accidentally in a nearby lake. Vanya administered CPR to him but ended up passing on some of the particles that gave the Umbrella Academy their powers. As such, Harlan, who was a non-verbal autistic child, ended up with powers similar to Vanya. But the difference was that he found it difficult to control his powers due to his mental condition.
After Vanya and the Umbrellas returned to 2019, Harlan continued to live from 1963 until 2019. Because his powers had caused trouble, he had his name changed to Lester Pocket. That’s why, as an old man in 2019, he was now Lester Pocket instead of Harlan Cooper.
What Happened To Lester Pocket In Umbrella Academy?
While growing up, Harlan experienced a lot of problems due to his mental disability and uncontrollable powers. This forced him to change his name to Lester Pocket. However, he experienced the most tragic day of his life when Sissy died due to cancer.
Sissy’s death broke his heart and made him lose control of his powers. Lester said that because he had Viktor’s powers, he could sense anyone who also had gifts. He was also mentally connected with the mothers of the gifted children. So, when he broke down and lost control over his powers, he caused brain aneurysms that killed the mothers of the Umbrella Academy children before they were even born.
In that regard, it was Lester Pocket that triggered the Grandfather Paradox. When Allison learned of this, she killed Lester herself and gave his body to the Sparrows as an olive branch of peace. However, Lester’s death ruined the relationship between Allison and Viktor, who cared so much for the old man he once knew as Harlan.
Who Plays Lester Pocket In Umbrella Academy?
Lester Pocket or the old version of Harlan Cooper is played by veteran actor Callum Keith Rennie, who has been acting since the early 90s. Rennie has appeared in a lot of different productions and has been credited for over 130 different roles. His most prominent productions include movies and TV shows like Californication, Born to Be Blue, The Man in the High Castle, and Fifty Shades of Grey.
