Lost in Space (2018 TV series)

Lost in Space
First Poster
Created By	Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless
Original Run	April 13, 2018-December 1, 2021
Episodes	28
Seasons	3

"This is the story of discovery. Not of strange new worlds. It's about discovering what's in the places you thought were empty." - Will Robinson, reading the words of Penny Robinson, "Shipwrecked"

Lost in Space is an American science fiction web television reboot of the 1965 series of the same name, following the adventures of a family of pioneering space colonists whose spaceship veers off-course. It was created by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, produced by Legendary Television, Synthesis Entertainment, and Applebox, with Zack Estrin serving as showrunner.

On Feb 4 2018 Kevin Burns revealed that Lost in Space was scheduled to be released in mid-April 2018 on Netflix. A second season was released on December 24, 2019. On March 9, 2020, a third season was announced as the final season of the program. In announcing the final season, showrunner Jack Estrin stated that he and the others involved with the production had always viewed it as a trilogy. The final season released on December 1, 2021.

Story

In the year 2044, an alien species appeared before Earth and crashed into the planet. However, the government wanted to keep the existence of aliens a secret. By the time the alien craft was detected, it was two days away from impact and the public was informed it was a comet, coined as the Christmas Star. After the craft crashed into Earth, the media called the impact the Christmas Star Incident. While not a catastrophic level meteoric event (like the one that brought the extinction of the dinosaurs), the crash still caused a planetary scale contamination of earth's atmosphere, darkening the skies with its debris. With no sunlight and dense particulate matter, humans began wearing masks to survive; however, earth could no longer properly sustain human existence. Having acquired new technology from the alien crash landing, the American military secretly tasked Dr. Maureen Robinson to help them construct next generation space crafts for intergalactic travel. Under her direction, scientists gained understanding of the alien ship's faster-than-light (FTL) drive and used it to introduce interstellar travel. Once the design, engineering, and manufacturing of the Resolute mothership and its Jupiter spacecrafts were completed, Dr. Robinson intends to make a fresh start for her family and other colonists in the promising undiscovered new lands of Alpha Centauri, but there were complications.

Maureen had separated from her husband, John Robinson, and wanted his permission to allow them to leave with her to Alpha Centauri. The strain between military duty while still balancing being a father and husband took its toll on their marriage. However, John didn’t want to leave his children behind and he decided to join his family to the new world. Maureen and John's youngest son, Will, failed the placement exam, but through a secret exchange, Maureen got someone of influence to help her reinstate Will for the journey in return for some secret files. Although she had her concerns, she was happy to know her whole family could leave Earth for a better life. Unfortunately, the journey for Alpha Centauri wouldn’t be so lucky.

By 2046, the colonists were on their way to Alpha Centauri. The alien FTL drive that powers the Resolute has been discovered by the aliens and they want it back. The Robot infiltrated the Resolute and attacked the ship’s crew to recover the missing drive. Known to only a few that their ship is under attack, the colonists were told to board their Jupiters for safety and return to the Resolute once the matter was resolved. During this time, June Harris (career criminal) stowed away aboard the Resolute for a fresh start. When the ship suffered damage, she didn’t have access to a ship; she needed to escape as she was arrested earlier for murder. Stealing Dr. Zachery Smith’s jacket, she used his credentials, posing as Family Therapist Dr. Smith, to commandeer the Jupiter 18 while the Robinsons fled in the Jupiter 2. As the Resolute struggles to restore order to their crumbling ship, various parts of their mothership have splintered and the entire party was taken to an unknown region of space. Either the Resolute or the Robot's ship's FTL drive activated and sucked everyone through and the Jupiters crashed down on the nearby planet. The Jupiter 2, along with other Jupiters, experienced difficulty in landing as the Resolute’s crashing parts affected their ability to land. While most made it, there was a total of 27 fatalities during the incident.

Stuck on the ice side of the planet, the Jupiter 2 crash-landed on ice and the heat from their crash caused the ice to melt and the ship sunk to the bottom. To recover their ship, John wanted Will to dive into the water to help salvage some items from their ship, but he was afraid to dive in, so his oldest sister, Judy Robinson, volunteered in the recovery efforts. Unfortunately, the water froze faster than anticipated. Judy was ultimately frozen and trapped several meters below the surface. With only small tools, the Robinsons attempted to dig her out before her suit runs out of oxygen, but the effort was taking too long. While observing a white light burning from a distance, Will realized it was Magnesium and that they could use it to melt down the ice to rescue Judy. Taking on Will’s idea, John brings his son to help him excavate it.

At the magnesium cave, Will helped John identify the magnesium deposit to help rescue Judy. Unfortunately, Will fell through the ice and downwards to a forest area. With limited time, John reluctantly left Will to prioritize Judy. Will understood what was at stake and waited for his father’s return. It was there that he encountered the Robot and his downed spacecraft. It’s unclear what happened during the attack onboard the Resolute, but the Robot and his ship had crash-landed onto the mysterious planet with the colonists and he was somehow injured and split in half. Will found Robot's lower half and ran to and climbed up a tree for safety. Busy watching Robot's legs, Will didn't notice that the rest of his body was stuck on the branch he had climbed up to. The Robot then lunged at Will in an attempt to harm him, with Will then scrambling to the trunk of the tree to be safe from Robot. Too afraid to make a move, Will sat things out as he attempted to contact his father for help. However, things got deadly as some fire from the Robot's crash-landing spread from the crash site and turned into a forest fire.

The crash ignited a forest fire that would burn everything nearby, including Will. Realizing he’d die along with the Robot, Will decided to break the branch to allow both of the Robot’s halves to reconnect. Appreciative of the rescue, the Robot climbs back up the tree and takes Will to safety and transforms his body to be more humanoid in an effort look less intimidating. During this time, the rest of the Robinsons struggle to rescue Judy as she’s running out of air and will suffocate soon. John didn’t get enough magnesium and the rain was re-freezing, resealing the hole through which they’d already burned. Believing Judy's life was going to come to an end, the Robinsons held her hand to comfort her in her final moments when the Will appeared with the Robot. Listening to Will's commands, the Robot melted through the ice and freed Judy. After she was rescued, the family was saved with the help of the Robot’s heating abilities to keep the family warm through the night.

The following day, the Robinsons and the Robot melted their way back through the ice to the Jupiter and began restoring their ship. Although the internal systems of the ship were restored, it would still take time to lift themselves out of the ice. The parents, the Robot, and Will took the time to traverse into the forest to examine the Robot’s spacecraft. While they were still at the crash site, Penny realized there was a shrapnel storm occurring and worried about their parents. Using their all-terrain vehicle, the Chariot, Penny wanted Judy to join her to recover their parents. Unfortunately, Judy was suffering from claustrophobia and PTSD when she was trapped and dying under the ice. Seeing that Judy wasn’t up for the recovery, Penny drove out by herself.

Penny made it to the forest to recover her parents, Will, and the Robot, and brought them back to the Jupiter 2. However, while returning, they also recovered “Dr. Smith.” June survived Jupiter 18’s crash along with Don West and a chicken. The two travelled across the arid land and found an injured pilot, Angela. While the storm was happening, June convinced Don to stay behind to look after Angela as she looked for help. She lied. She stole the flare gun and left Don and Angela to their demise. Unknown to June, Don found the Japanese crew of the Jupiter 11 and found refuge there. June would live with the Robinsons for a time before the rest of the colonist survivors banded together.

As the other colonists began contacting each other, the Robinsons reconnected with Jupiter 11 and Judy discovered (from Angela) that the attack was perpetrated by the Robot. Fearful for Will’s safety, she talked to Will about it, but he already knew. While the parents were investigating the Robot’s ship, Will and the Robot touched a part of the ship together and that caused them to mentally link and see a flash-back to what the Robot did. Commanding the Robot to never harm another living being, Will convinced his siblings to keep quiet about the Robot’s involvement with the attack aboard the Resolute until he was ready to tell John. However, in the interest of the Robot’s safety, Will had hidden him inside a cave until he was ready to talk.

All of the surviving colonists have now banded together and Victor Dhar was chosen to lead the community. Dr. Smith wanted to convert the Robot under her power. If she returned to the Resolute, she'd be arrested and branded a criminal; she needed to manipulate events in her favor and the Robot's power would protect her from harm. When the colonists built a light beacon in hopes to signal the Resolute, Dr. Smith distracted the Robot, allowing local, armored, saber-tooth lizards to attack the camp. This forced Will to call the Robot for help but Will needed to cancel the Robot’s pacifist command so that it would fight back. Allowing it to be violent again, the Robot was victorious. With the camp now aware of the Robot’s existence and what it had done aboard the Resolute, there were major concerns about their safety. John vouched that the Robot had changed and only answered to Will’s command. However, Angela lost her husband to the Robot’s attack and was too hateful to allow it to stand.

The Robot had printed out a gun for Will for protection earlier, but he hid it to avoid trouble. Dr. Smith stole the gun and now guided Angela towards the gun so that she could direct her rage against the Robot that killed her husband. With some emotional manipulation of her distraught state, Angela later attempted to kill the Robot, causing it to transform into its battle mode. Will was able to pacify the Robot before anything got too serious, but John was seriously injured when the Robot threw him into a wall. Realizing that the Robot is a threat to the safety of the colonists, Will reluctantly had the Robot walk off a cliff where it broke apart from impact. However, June would secretly recover the parts and attempt to resurrect the Robot into her service.

Through Maureen’s examination of the planet, she realized the planet has reached the end of its life cycle. There’s a black-hole near the sun and its gravity causes the planet to orbit too close to the sun, causing everything on the surface to burn. To prevent widespread panic, Maureen decided to keep it to herself and John until they could figure out a solution to save everyone. However, Penny overheard it and warned her love interest, Vijay Dhar about their reality, but made him promise to keep it to himself. Things were kept quiet until Vijay realized they were all going to die.

Don West had been trying hard to impress everyone while also trying to gain a profit. With everyone low on fuel, Don offers Victor the location of Jupiter 18 to salvage its fuel to help return to the Resolute. Unfortunately, the planet has begun reacting towards the gravity of the sun and black-hole. Seismic activity has increased and while returning to their base with the fuel, Evan’s body was crushed under the fuel container. The container itself was punctured and if they lifted it up, it would leak nearly all of the fuel out. Victor wanted to save Evan, but prioritized the fuel first. Judy didn’t care about the fuel and wanted to save Evan, and Don assisted in saving him. Although they successfully rescued Evan, he later died enroute back to base; they lost both Evan and almost all of the fuel. Without enough fuel for more than one ship, everyone just presumed they would have to stay a little longer, but Vijay knew the truth and decided to tell his family. Unwilling to risk his family’s life, Victor decided to launch away in the Jupiter 4 with the remaining fuel for his family’s safety.

Both John and Maureen realized what was happening and managed to sabotage Jupiter 4 before they could leave. It was then that the two explained the situation to the colonists and proposed a realistic plan to get help from the Resolute: they would launch a lightened Jupiter 4 into space with enough fuel to make it back to the Resolute. During that time, Don has found proof that June is fake as the real Dr. Smith is a man. Maureen tricked June into a room and had her quarantined while they dealt with the Jupiter 4 launch. However, June began manipulating Will as his parents never told the complete truth about Dr. Smith's actions. June reasoned with Will to set her free so they could restore the Robot and have it pilot the ship without risking John's life. However, it was a ruse and Will got tied up. Maureen acted as mission control over launching John and Don into space when June knocked Maureen out, causing the Jupiter 4 to explode. June kidnapped Maureen in the confusion and tried to get her to help June restore the Robot and possibly the alien ship.

While Will was upset over John’s demise, he discovered one of the rocks he found in a cave on the planet is concentrated bio-matter that can be used as fuel by their waste converters. Having the colonists return to the cave (where Robot was hidden for a time), the colonists recovered enough solidified fecal matter to be turned into fuel. It was during this time that John managed to broadcast a signal to Will that he and Don were alive. While the ship did explode, the two of them managed to eject and survive near an engine compartment, allowing them to signal their situation. Meanwhile, June presses Maureen to do her bidding while Judy searches for her mother.

Maureen stalled helping June long enough for Judy to find and rescue her. The colonists have begun to launch and return to the Resolute, but the Robinson children stayed behind to wait for the rest of their family in the Jupiter 2. The Robot has been resurrected and is now loyal to June instead of Will. Using the Robot’s power, June makes Judy and Maureen take her back to the Jupiter 2 and launch into space. While in space though, Maureen went for a nose dive with the ship and caused the Robot to send June to the center of the ship for protection. Maureen used that chance to lock the Robot and June in one room for a brief time while the Robinsons figured out a way to rescue John. They had a harpoon and attempted to fire it to recover John, but June figured a way to open the doors prematurely and had the Robot hunt them down. Maureen told Penny, Judy, and Will to go inside the Chariot for protection, Penny and Judy did so, but Will remained outside, attempting to reason with his Robot which was unsuccessful. Just before the Robot could hit Will with his raised fist, Maureen uses the ship’s robotic arm to whack it away and then again to move it closer to the Ship's garage door. Maureen then opened the garage door in an attempt to suck the Robot out into space. This didn't work at first because of the Robot being extremely strong and was slowly walking towards Will until a container in the garage got loose and and whacked into the Robot, forcing it out into space. After Maureen closed the garage door and made sure that Penny and Judy were safe, they heard the garage door being forcibly opened, they look back and see an alien ship travel past. The Robot pulls himself back into the garage with another Robot (in its attack form) beside him. The second Robot knocks out Maureen and zaps the Chariot with its energy blasts to retrieve their alien engine underneath, damaging Will’s suit in the process. It picks up the engine and walks over to Will who was venting oxygen and dying. Just as the second Robot was about to zap Will, the main one remembered his bond with Will and pushed the second Robot away. Returning to Will’s side, he repaired his suit and fought the other Robot out of the Jupiter 2 and into space.

While there’s a moment of peace, everyone was losing air and needed to close the ship’s hatch. Will realized he was the only one that could do it and went outside of the ship to manually close the ship’s hatch. However, he lost his grip and floated away from the ship. Fortunately, John made it to the harpoon and rescued his son. The Robinsons were reunited and quarantined June for safety. It was only then that Maureen learned that June helped fire the harpoon a second time to recover John. Curious as to why June did that, Maureen talked to her, but she couldn’t trust her reasons and returned to the bridge.

While struggling for control over the ship, the Resolute was expected to leave already without the Jupiter 2, but Victor had them stay long enough to find the Robinsons. Without fuel, the Resolute was going to manually recover Jupiter 2, but before they could reach the Resolute, the alien FTL drive activated. June had the Robot bring his FTL drive earlier from his crashed ship to the Jupiter 2 (under the Chariot). The FTL drive awoke and began bonded with the ship’s navigation systems and opened a portal into another galaxy. Realizing they are now in a binary star system, Will recalls the Robot depicting this place as “danger.” The Jupiter 2 is now once more lost in dangerous space. Only this time, they were alone.

Cast and characters

For a more complete listing and background information on show cast, see here.

Main

• Toby Stephens as John Robinson, the expedition commander.
• Molly Parker as Maureen Robinson, a fearless and brilliant aerospace engineer who makes the decision to bring her family to space for a chance at a new life on a better world.
• Ignacio Serricchio as Don West, a roughneck smuggling luxury goods on the side who finds in the Robinsons the family he never thought he would find.
• Taylor Russell as Dr. Judy Robinson, John and Maureen's eldest child. An 18 year old physician and prodigy.
• Mina Sundwall as Penny Robinson, one of the Robinson children. Perky but sometimes sulky, she did not truly want to go into space, but proves a reliable member of the crew.
• Maxwell Jenkins as Will Robinson, the youngest Robinson child. He forms a special bond with the Robot.
• Parker Posey as June Harris, AKA Dr. Zoe Smith. A con-artist who assumes the role of another person. She is a master manipulator and seems to be out only for herself.

The Robot also appears in the series in a modified form. He is a cybernetic life form of an alien species. Though at first hostile, his bond with Will Robinson changes him. It is later discovered that he is one of many such robots. He and the other robots are on the series are portrayed by Brian Steele, who was originally credited as guest cast in the program's first season before receiving starring billing beginning with the second season.

Recurring

• Raza Jaffrey as Victor Dhar, a well groomed, educated and officious man with a sense of entitlement. Victor has been a career builder and politician from a young age. There is arrogance and impatience about him. All this masks the underlying fear that he'll one day be found out — that he isn’t quite good enough.
• Ajay Parikh-Friese as Vijay Dhar
• Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Hiroki Watanabe
• Kiki Sukezane as Aiko Watanabe
• Selma Blair as Jessica Harris appears in a flashback in only a single installment in the first season. Her con-artist sister June Harris attacks her and then takes her position on the Resolute, then poses as "Dr. Smith." She appears again in "Echoes" of the second season.
• Russell Hornsby appears as Grant Kelly in a recurring role in the program's third season. He is the biological father of Judy Robinson, an astronaut who commanded the Fortuna and was believed lost. He later reveals a secret truth regarding the mission of the Fortuna.

Original series cameos

Cast from the original Lost in Space have appeared on the series in cameo roles. The following cast from the original series have appeared on the program at least once:

• Bill Mumy as Zachary Smith (starred originally as Will Robinson)
• Angela Cartwright as Sheila Harris (starred originally as Penny Robinson)
• June Lockhart as Voice of Alpha Control (starred originally as Maureen Robinson)

Crew

For a more complete listing of crew who worked on Netflix's Lost in Space, see here.

Netflix's Lost in Space was developed by Matt Sazama & Burk Sharpless, based on the original premise created by Irwin Allen. Neil Marshall, Marc Helwig, Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless, Kevin Burns, Jon Jashni and Zack Estrin all serve as executive producers on the program. Ed McCardie serves as a co-executive producer.

The series is produced by Kari Drake and Brad Van Arragon, with music by Christopher Drake and Christopher Lennertz.

Episodes

Season 1

Season 1 poster

Main article: Season 1

Season 1 premiered with all ten episodes on Netflix on April 13, 2018.

• 1.01 "Impact"
• 1.02 "Diamonds in the Sky"
• 1.03 "Infestation"
• 1.04 "The Robinsons Were Here"
• 1.05 "Transmission"
• 1.06 "Eulogy"
• 1.07 "Pressurized"
• 1.08 "Trajectory"
• 1.09 "Resurrection"
• 1.10 "Danger, Will Robinson"

Season 2

Season 2 poster

Main article: Season 2

Season 2 premiered on December 24, 2019 with ten new episodes.

• 2.01 "Shipwrecked"
• 2.02 "Precipice"
• 2.03 "Echoes"
• 2.04 "Scarecrow"
• 2.05 "Run"
• 2.06 "Severed"
• 2.07 "Evolution"
• 2.08 "Unknown"
• 2.09 "Shell Game"
• 2.10 "Ninety-Seven"

Lost in Space 2 Have You Seen Our Robot? Trailer Netflix

Season 3

Season 3 poster

Main article: Season 3

Season 3 is the final season of Netflix's Lost in Space, released on December 1, 2021 with eight episodes. As with many other programs, production on the series was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in the nearly two year gap between the release of the second and third seasons.

• 3.01 "Three Little Birds"
• 3.02 "Contact"
• 3.03 "The New Guy"
• 3.04 "Nothing Left Behind"
• 3.05 "Stuck"
• 3.06 "Final Transmission"
• 3.07 "Contingencies on Contingencies"
• 3.08 "Trust"

Lost in Space - Official Trailer - Final Season - Netflix

Production

Development

In October 2014, it was announced that Legendary Television was developing a new reboot of Lost in Space and had hired Dracula Untold screenwriting duo Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless to pen the new series. In November 2015, Netflix landed the project. On June 29, 2016, Netflix officially ordered a full 10 episode season of Lost in Space, with Zack Estrin as executive producer and showrunner. Sazama, Sharpless, Kevin Burns, Jon Jashni, Neil Marshall, and Marc Helwig also serve as executive producers.

Toby Stephens had this to say about the new show: "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 humour and humanity in it, but it has obviously gotta be for a modern audience."

The program's frequent use of orange is a nod to the favorite color of Irwin Allen, the creator of the original Lost in Space.

Filming

Production on the first season of the series began in January 2017, in Vancouver, British Columbia, and concluded in June 2017.

Tie-in media

Lost in Space: Return to Yesterday

A novel based on the series, Lost in Space: Return to Yesterday, was published on November 19, 2019. A second novel, Lost in Space: Infinity's Edge, was published on May 19, 2020. A third novel, untitled, was announced for publication on November 3, 2020, but was later apparently canceled. A comic series, Lost in Space: Countdown to Danger, began release in December 2018 and featured a total of three volumes. An omnibus, Lost in Space Ultimate Collection, was published on December 14, 2021, including a new comic featuring the lost of the Netflix series meeting that of the original series. A soundtrack for the first season was released in CD, digital and vinyl formats. A soundtrack for the second season was also released but only digitally. A third season soundtrack was also released, again only digitally. A set of trading cards based upon the the first season of the series was also released. The program's first season was released on both DVD and Blu-ray formats, with special features included. It was also made available to purchase digitally through services such as Amazon, the only season of the series to be released anywhere officially outside of Netflix.

Gallery

Lost in Space Date Announcement HD Netflix

Lost in Space Featurette Lost In Possibility HD Netflix

A Lost In Space Superfan Gets The Surprise Of Her Life Netflix

Lost in Space Lost In Creativity HD Netflix

External links

• Lost in Space on Netflix
• Lost in Space (2018 TV series) on the Internet Movie Database