The Real Reason You Recognize Lila Pitts From Umbrella Academy Season 2
Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Umbrella Academy.
By now, many avid The Umbrella Academy fans, old and new, have seen the latest Season 2 addition that hit Netflix on July 10, 2020. The 10-episode season picked up where the show left off with the Hargreeves family — a crew of seven adopted super-powered siblings (with major emotional issues) known collectively as The Umbrella Academy — banding together to rescue the world, even though it was technically their fault the world was in peril the first place. Since their adopted father and billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves (played by Colm Feore) made it seem as though the Hargreeves siblings were the only superhumans in the world, the siblings had no reason to believe they weren't alone in their uniqueness. However, viewers know that's not entirely true from the show's pilot episode showing 43 superhumans were born on October 1, 1989.
Through a series of very unfortunate events, the Umbrella Academy was transported (and stuck) back in time to the 1960s. During the long wait for some sort of answers, viewers meet a new set of interesting characters. One is Lila Pitts (Ritu Arya), who becomes Diego Hargreeves' girlfriend and super secret agent, but viewers may have also recognized the actress from a few other cool projects.
Ritu Arya played a sentient robot in Humans
Ritu Arya is not a stranger to sci-fi or superhuman themes. The actress also starred in the hit AMC show Humans. According to IMDb, Humans is about "a parallel present where the latest must-have gadget for any busy family is a 'Synth' – a highly-developed robotic servant that's so similar to a real human it's transforming the way we live." The British Indian actress played a Synth named Flash in the show between 2016 and 2018. Flash — originally assigned to work as a nanny — became sentient after sentient Synth Niska (played by Emily Berrington) released a consciousness code to "awaken" all of the Synths.
Along with Max (played by Black Mirror's Ivanno Jeremiah), Flash helped build a synth refuge. Unfortunately Flash died at the top of Season 3 after running into a group of humans, but Arya's character was not forgotten. Following her role as Flash, Arya booked roles on the television series The Good Karma Hospital, the 2019 film Last Christmas, and series Stick and Stones. Surprisingly, her next big role was also in the sci-fi genre.
Ritu Arya appeared in Doctor Who as a time lord
In 2020, Ritu Arya very briefly joined the cast of the iconic and mind-bending hit series Doctor Who. In Season 12 in the episode titled "Fugitive of the Judoon," The Umbrella Academy star played Gat, a member of the Time Lords species, same as the Doctor (played by Jodie Whittaker). After chasing an unknown version of the Doctor, Gat is killed after firing a sabotaged weapon in front of two Doctors.
With The Umbrella Academy as the latest addition to her resume, it seems that the British actress may soon be making a name for herself here in the States, given the show's success. Since Lila Pitts also doesn't die at the end of Season 2 — technically the Hargreeves kids are in yet another time conundrum – we can expect to see more of Arya in the already highly anticipated Season 3.