Elliot Page says returning to The Umbrella Academy set after coming out as transgender has been validating, though there's been some awkwardness

TIME

The Umbrella Academy star is on the cover of this week's Time magazine, where he describes being inspired by transgender stars Janet Mock and Laverne Cox, and how the isolation of the pandemic helped him come to terms with his identity. “I had a lot of time on my own to really focus on things that I think, in so many ways, unconsciously, I was avoiding,” says Page. He added that he was attracted to The Umbrella Academy's role of Vanya because the character is crushed by self-loathing, believing herself to be the only ordinary sibling in an extraordinary family. “I related to how much Vanya was closed off,” Page says as he's filming Season 3 of the Netflix series. Meanwhile, showrunner Steve Blackman says: "It seems like there’s a tremendous weight off his shoulders, a feeling of comfort. There’s a lightness, a lot more smiling.” Page says that returning to set has been validating, even there is some awkwardness with cast and crew sometimes using the wrong pronouns. “It’s going to be an adjustment,” Page says—but co-workers also see and acknowledge him.