Last June, Netflix ordered a 10-episode reboot of the classic sci-fi series Lost in Space. For those who are unfamiliar with the 1960s TV series, it followed the Robinson family as they tried to survive in hostile space after their ship was sabotaged and thrown of course. The show was previously adapted into the incredibly unpopular 1998 film of the same name, so hopefully the upcoming TV show will have learned from that picture’s mistakes.

Christina Radish recently spoke with Toby Stephens for the final season of Black Sails. Stephens is moving on to star in Lost in Space and will play John Robinson, the family’s patriarch and commander of the mission. Stephens teased how Robinson is a complex character, but also more straightforward than his Black Sails role, Captain Flint:

Collider:  Black Sails is wrapping up this season, but you’re going off to do the Netflix reboot of Lost in Space.

STEPHENS:  Yeah, it’s gonna be a lot of fun and very different from Black Sails. What’s nice is that I’m playing a complex character, but somebody who’s, in a way, a lot more simplistic than Flint. He’s just in a very difficult situation.

Stephens also talked about how the new show compares to the 1960s original, and that while there will still be “humor and humanity”, we should also expect something more “modern”:

We’ve heard that this reboot is pretty dark and not too much like the original show. Is it a fair assessment to say that it will be very different from what fans of the original are familiar with?

STEPHENS:  It’s a very clever, modern reworking of a great story. Lost in Space is Swiss Family Robinson in space, so it was a story that existed before Lost in Space. The fundamental story is that it’s a family that is lost in a difficult, life-threatening situation and how it challenges them and brings them closer together. That is essentially what the story of this is, it’s just the context is a lot more modern. It’s a more modern take on the ‘60s version. If you look at it now, it’s charming, but it seems so innocent. Whereas this is a version that is for our time. I’m hoping it will still have humor and humanity in it, but it has obviously gotta be for a modern audience.

 

Is it as massive as what you did with Black Sails, or is it massive on a different scale?

STEPHENS:  I think it’s equally as big, just in a different way. It’s spaceships and planets that aren’t like ours and spacesuits. It’s going to be really fun like that.

Could Lost in Space follow in the footsteps of Battlestar Galactica (i.e. a campy TV series that was remade into brilliant sci-fi)? At the very least, it sounds like it should be worth checking out.

Lost in Space is set to debut on Netflix in 2018.