The epic Netflix series Lost in Space, a modern re-imagining of the classic 1960s sci-fi series, is set 30 years in the future, when colonization in space is a reality and the Robinson family – John (Toby Stephens), Maureen (Molly Parker), Judy (Taylor Russell), Penny (Mina Sundwall) and Will (Maxwell Jenkins) – is trying to make a life for themselves in a new and different world. But when they find themselves off course, they must quickly learn to adapt, work together and form new alliances, if they’re going to survive in an environment with dangers around every corner.
While at WonderCon in Anaheim, co-stars Toby Stephens, Molly Parker, Taylor Russell, Mina Sundwall, Maxwell Jenkins, Parker Posey (who plays Dr. Smith) and Ignacio Serricchio (who plays Don West) stopped by the Collider interview suite to chat about the appeal of Lost in Space, what they thought of the classic TV series, the reassurance of having Netflix behind the series, why this is such an inspirational story, the bad-ass female characters, never knowing what to make of Dr. Smith, having a real live chicken for a co-star, and the relationship between Will and the robot.
Collider: When Lost in Space came your way, what was the appeal for you?
MAXWELL JENKINS: I definitely felt like I needed to watch the first season or so, of the original, which was very different. Also, something that happened that allowed me to re-imagine the role of Will Robinson because he gave me a lot of tips was Bill Mumy coming to set. He gave me a lot of tips on what to expect because he came towards the beginning of filming.
MOLLY PARKER: I hadn’t really seen the original, so for me, it was actually a conversation I had with (showrunner) Zack Estrin, who talked a lot about how they wanted this character to be this hero and defy those expectations for the father and mother. The traditional gender roles were switched, a little bit. You do see, as it goes along, that John Robinson, even though he’s this warrior, is quite an emotional being and is emotionally connected to the children, and I play a traditionally more male role, in terms of being science-y and logical. So, that was interesting to me. But I have to say, I thought with it being sci-fi, we’d be in a studio and there would be a lot of green screen, and then we ended up on top of mountains, in the winter in Canada. They wanted it to be a dirt under your fingernails adventure, and it is.
TAYLOR RUSSELL: For me, personally, it was just the idea of being in this family situation that’s so extreme, and six months in Vancouver sounded like an adventure, itself. And then, thinking of all the special effects, of how crazy it was gonna be and not being able to see what they were seeing, in reality, but having this idea, I thought was super cool.
MINA SUNDWALL: When I read the pilot, I loved the fact that they are very special people, but they’re not this extraordinary family, in the way that nobody can relate to them. They’re on an extraordinary mission The adventure with that is so cool to me, and it really drew me in. I was like, “I would die to be a part of this project,” and now I am.
PARKER: I also did think about the fact that Netflix was making it and we knew that there would be the resources to make it really good. You don’t want to do it half-assed, and you don’t want it to be just okay, so just knowing that it had that support around it made me feel quite secure.
IGNACIO SERRICCHIO: I watched the original in the ‘80s and I loved it. It was all dubbed in Spanish, but I was a giant fan of Guy Williams ‘cause he did Zorro, and that’s my dream role, and then he went on to do Lost in Space, so I was following him. I loved Guy Williams. I was never a fan of sci-fi or space stuff. I think Star Trek had come out right before, but I never cared about any of that and I had never watched Star Wars. This show was different because of the family. I could relate not so much to that family, but to the family values and to sticking together in situations where you go at it. That, to me, was unlike any other show. It was this extraordinary circumstance, but you still go back to your root, and family is everything. That really drew me to it. So, when this came out, I had very low expectations of getting the role because I thought “Don West” was going to a white guy. Truly, that’s what I thought. Being Latino in this market, in the past 20 years, I hadn’t gone out for the white dude next door, but Netflix had that vision. Netflix is changing all of that, not only in the production aspect, but they’re trying to include everybody. Then, I was like, “Okay, there actually might be a chance.”
And then, you got the role and got stuck with a chicken for a co-star.
SERRICCHIO: That was the best part! Not for the chicken. Kiki was the real chicken, but Debbie is her character. She was a total pro.
PARKER POSEY: Ignacio and I were all bruised up from doing all of our own stunts in the spacecraft, and then we’d go into the make-up trailer and the make-up artist would be like, “The chicken was so funny!,” while we were all beaten and bruised.
SERRICCHIO: They’d be like, “Did you see how it moved?!”
POSEY: Yeah, we know the chicken upstaged us!
Toby, did you just decide to trade a pirate ship on Black Sails for a spaceship on Lost in Space?
TOBY STEPHENS: I didn’t. It just happened that way. For me, the thing that I really liked from reading the pilot was the tone that they managed to find. They were irreverent towards the original story, but they made it in a modern frame. The family is not this apple pie American family. It’s dysfunctional. It’s a real family, with warts and all. The dynamic between them, certainly in the first season, has them not only trying to survive this horrendous accident and this planet, but also trying to survive, as a family, and figuring that out. They’re fallible people, trying to be better. I really loved the aspirational quality of it. In a really unsentimental way, these people are trying to be better people. I love the fact that they’re already smart and they’re really strong, and the kids are really smart and strong. That’s aspirational. If I was a kid watching this, I’d be like, “I really wanna be like that!” It’s an inspiring thing. There’s a lot of stuff out there, a lot of which I love, that is super depressing, not only in the real world, but also in a lot of TV series. There’s a lot of dark, gnarly, hard to watch stuff, so it’s lovely to have something that’s aspirational and positive for people.
SERRICCHIO: Also, the kids are kids, but they’re respected. The writers respected the fact that whatever the kids go through is equal. It wasn’t about giving them teenage problems. It’s real, and we can all relate to it. They were respected by our writers.
POSEY: As kids, in the ‘70s, we’d watch these shows, and then we’d go in the backyard and pretend to be those people. There’s been 25 or 30 years, where there’s not that much you would want to pretend to be from shows, for kids, in this aspirational way. We would do the sound effects and we’d dance and pretend we were shoving a knife in the back, and you knew it was all fake. One of the things I loved about this was that sense of play, and it really brought it out, in all of us. Families can watch this show, and then pretend that they’re on a spacecraft, serving dinner. That just tickled me, that there are these domestic scenes in the show.
PARKER: As the mother of an 11-year-old, I know how little there is to watch together. There’s so much content now, but there’s not a lot that we can watch together, that we both are really into. Kids want to be engaged and challenged and scared and excited. I’m really excited that this show is something that we can watch with our kids.
STEPHENS: That’s what I’m most excited about. This is actually something they can watch me in, without it giving them nightmares.
JENKINS: I would actually go home and pretend to be the robot, when we were finished filming.
PARKER: I remember this moment when Max and my son were on set, and we finished a take, and they ran into the cockpit and started pretending. They would just play. It’s a dream set for a kid.
JENKINS: It was like a real spaceship!
STEPHENS: We all did a lot of button pushing!
Parker, I love that we never really know what your character is up to.
POSEY: And you may never. Who knows what people and the world looked like, before we see it in the show now? That’s interesting. Exactly what was going on and how bad it was poses some really fun questions.
I love that there are some bad-ass women on this show!
POSEY: Yeah, there are some really strong women that men love and like and are inspired by. I remember when Molly was all scratched up and she had a leg brace on, and was all beaten up and dirty. I really wanted to wear dirt, throughout the show, and I actually wanted to wear camouflage make-up, but I got shut down. As a kid, you see someone who has an injury get to be strong, and that’s usually something that you only see men do. We had so much fun with the emotion of that, with that survival and pain, and the energy that you’re going to live through that. It’s a very basic sense of survival and a portrayal of what it is to survive. It’s a great mythological idea to revamp the show, in this way. It’s cool.
Max, what do you enjoy about the relationship that Will shares with the robot?
JENKINS: What drew me to this show was that, reading the pilot, I noticed the relationship between Will and the robot was a lot like the relationship between me and my two rescued pit bulls. Pit bulls have bad reputations, but they’re incredibly loyal, they are super sweet and they are fierce protectors, just like the robot. I asked the director, Neil Marshall, what I should watch to prepare for that relationship, and he told me to watch E.T., The Black Stallion, and The Iron Giant. The Iron Giant is my favorite movie, and I’d seen the other movies.
Lost is Space is available to stream at Netflix on April 13th.
