''Lost in Space'' is an American

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

television series following the adventures of a family of space colonists whose ship veers off course. The series is a reimagining of the 1965 series of the same name, inspired by the 1812 novel ''

The Swiss Family Robinson ''The Swiss Family Robinson'' (German: ''Der Schweizerische Robinson'', "The Swiss Robinson") is a novel by the Swiss author Johann David Wyss, first published in 1812, about a Swiss family of immigrants whose ship en route to Port Jackson, Aus ...

'' and the 1962 Gold Key comic book '' Space Family Robinson'', created by Del Connell and artist Dan Spiegle. Produced by Legendary Television, Synthesis Entertainment, Clickety-Clack Productions, and Applebox Entertainment, the show is written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, with Zack Estrin serving as

showrunner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

released the series on April 13, 2018, renewing it the following month for a second season. The second season premiered on December 24, 2019. The third and final season was released on December 1, 2021.

Premise

In 2046, two years after an

impact event An impact event is a collision between astronomical objects causing measurable effects. Impact events have been found to regularly occur in planetary systems, though the most frequent involve asteroids, comets or meteoroids and have minimal effe ...

that threatens the survival of humanity, the Robinson family is selected for the 24th mission of the ''Resolute'' (24th Colonist Group), an interstellar spacecraft carrying selected families and civilians to colonize the

Alpha Centauri Alpha Centauri (, α Cen, or Alpha Cen) is a star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus (constellation), Centaurus. It consists of three stars: Rigil Kentaurus (), Toliman (), and Proxima Centauri (). Proxima Centauri ...

planetary system A planetary system is a set of gravity, gravitationally bound non-stellar Astronomical object, bodies in or out of orbit around a star or star system. Generally speaking, systems with one or more planets constitute a planetary system, although ...

. Before they reach their destination, an alien robot breaches the ''Resolute''s hull. Forced to evacuate the

mothership A mother ship, mothership or mother-ship is a large vehicle that leads, serves, or carries other smaller vehicles. A mother ship may be a maritime ship, aircraft, or spacecraft. Examples include bomber aircraft, bombers converted to carry exp ...

in numerous short-range ''Jupiter'' spacecraft, scores of colonists, among them the Robinsons, crash on a nearby

habitable planet Planetary habitability is the measure of a planet's or a natural satellite's potential to develop and sustain an environment hospitable to life. Life may be generated directly on a planet or satellite endogenously. Research suggests that life ...

. There they must contend with a strange environment and battle their own personal demons as they search for a way back to the ''Resolute''.

Cast

Main

Molly Parker Molly Parker (born June 30, 1972) is a Canadian actress, writer, and director. She garnered critical attention for her portrayal of a necrophiliac medical student in the controversial drama '' Kissed'' (1996). She subsequently starred in the tel ...

as Maureen Robinson, an

aerospace engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

who serves as the mission commander for the ''Jupiter 2'', taking her family on the mission to colonize Alpha Centauri in hopes of building a new life on a better world. Married to John Robinson, she is Judy, Penny, and Will Robinson's mother. *

Toby Stephens Toby Stephens (born 21 April 1969) is an English actor who has appeared in films in the United Kingdom, United States, and India. He is known for the roles of Bond villain Gustav Graves in the 2002 James Bond film '' Die Another Day'', for whic ...

as John Robinson, former U.S. Navy SEAL and husband to Maureen. He is Penny and Will's father and Judy's

stepfather A stepfather or stepdad is a biologically unrelated male parent married to one's preexisting parent. A stepfather-in-law is a stepfather of one's spouse. Children from his spouse's previous unions are known as his stepchildren. In fiction Thou ...

. *

Maxwell Jenkins Maxwell Jenkins (born May 3, 2005) is an American actor and musician, who is known for his roles in ''Lost in Space (2018 TV series), Lost in Space'', ''A Family Man'', ''Sense8'', ''Dear Edward (TV series), Dear Edward'', and ''Arcadian (film), ...

as Will Robinson, Maureen and John's prodigious youngest child, who forms a tight bond with an alien robot who he saves from destruction during a forest fire. * Taylor Russell as Judy Robinson, Maureen's eldest child and John's stepdaughter, who serves as mission doctor, having received accelerated medical training to earn her medical license at age 18. * Mina Sundwall as Penny Robinson, Maureen and John's younger daughter and middle child, a rebellious teenage girl who becomes inspired to write about her experiences. *

Ignacio Serricchio Ignacio Ariel Serricchio (born April 19, 1982) is an Argentine actor. He is known for his role as Diego Alcazar on ''General Hospital'' and as Alejandro "Alex" Chavez on ''The Young and the Restless''. Other roles include Lifetime's '' Witches ...

as Don West, a ship mechanic and smuggler of luxury goods. He is accompanied by his lucky chicken, Debbie. *

Parker Posey Parker Christian Posey (born November 8, 1968) is an American actress. Known for playing eccentric characters in independent films, she was named "Queen of the Indies" by ''Time'' in 1997. She has received nominations for a Primetime Emmy Awa ...

as June Harris / Zoe Smith, a petty criminal who assumes the identity of her sister, Jessica, to take her place on the ''Resolute''. She subsequently steals and alters the credentials of Dr. Zachary Smith during the first robot attack to become "Dr. Zoe Smith" and take his seat on an evacuating ''Jupiter'' ship. The theft of the doctor's identity is a reference to the corresponding character of Dr. Smith in the original television series. The name of her character, June Harris, is also a nod to

June Lockhart June Lockhart (born June 25, 1925) is an American retired actress, beginning a film career in the 1930s and 1940s in such films as A Christmas Carol (1938 film), ''A Christmas Carol'' and ''Meet Me in St. Louis''. She appeared primarily in 1950 ...

, who played Maureen Robinson in the original series, and

Jonathan Harris Jonathan Daniel Harris ( Charasuchin; November 6, 1914 – November 3, 2002) was an American character actor whose career included more than 500 television and film appearances, as well as Voice-over, voiceovers. Two of his best-known roles we ...

, who played Smith in the original series. * Brian Steele as the

Robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

(seasons 2–3; recurring season 1), an alien robot being that Will encounters after the crash. The robot has a different form from the ones that appeared in the previous series and film. * Ajay Friese as Vijay Dhar (season 2; recurring seasons 1, 3), Victor's son and Penny's love interest. * Sibongile Mlambo as Angela Goddard (season 2; recurring season 1), an engineer and fellow survivor struggling with

post traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster, traffic collision, ...

in the wake of her husband's death during the attack on the ''Resolute''. Her character is named for

Angela Cartwright Angela Margaret Cartwright (born September 9, 1952) is an English-born American actress primarily known for her roles in movies and television. On television, she played Linda Williams, the stepdaughter of Danny Williams (played by Danny Thoma ...

, who played Penny Robinson in the original television series, and

Mark Goddard Mark Goddard (born Charles Harvey Goddard; July 24, 1936 – October 10, 2023) was an American actor who starred in a number of television programs. He is probably best known for portraying Major Don West in the CBS series ''Lost in Space'' (1 ...

, who played Don West in the original series.

Recurring

* Raza Jaffrey as Victor Dhar, the representative of the 24th colony group and father to Vijay * Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Hiroki Watanabe (season 1), a biologist and friend of Maureen's * Yukari Komatsu as Naoko Watanabe (seasons 1–2; guest season 3), Hiroki's daughter, who is considered the best pilot among the colonists * Kiki Sukezane as Aiko Watanabe (season 1), Hiroki's granddaughter * Veenu Sandhu as Prisha Dhar (season 1; guest seasons 2–3), Victor's wife * Adam Greydon Reid as Peter Beckert (season 1; guest season 3), a survivor of the ''Resolute'' and Victor's associate * Amelia Burstyn as Diane Radoo, the communications officer on the ''Resolute'' * Iain Belcher as Evan (season 1), an electrician and survivor on the unknown planet * Shaun Parkes as I. Radic (seasons 1–2; guest season 3), a captain and the commander in charge of security operations on the ''Resolute'' * Rowan Schlosberg as Connor (season 1; guest seasons 2–3), a survivor of the ''Resolute'' on the unknown planet * Viv Leacock as Reese (seasons 1, 3; guest season 2), a survivor of the ''Resolute''. He has several children, including Noah *

Douglas Hodge Douglas William Hodge (born 25 February 1960) is an English actor, director and musician. He has had an extensive career in theatre, as well as film and television where he has appeared in ''Robin Hood'' (2010), '' Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Retu ...

as Alistair Hastings (season 2; guest season 3), an intelligence officer on the ''Resolute'' who wants to get the ship to Alpha Centauri at all costs, including stranding hundreds of colonists on an alien planet * JJ Feild as Ben Adler (season 2; guest season 3), head of the Advanced Technology unit on the ''Resolute''. He seeks to understand the robots and their technology. He was married to Amanda and had two sons. * Sakina Jaffrey as Captain Kamal (season 2), who becomes commander of the ''Resolute'' following the incapacitation of Captain Radic * Tattiawna Jones as Ava (seasons 2–3), the head mechanic on the ''Resolute'' and Don's superior * Aria DeMaris as Izabel Azevedo (seasons 2–3), a physicist, and passenger on the ''Resolute''. She is married to Aubrey and is one of Elise's mothers. * Zya Acala as Elise Azevedo (season 2; guest season 3), the daughter of Izabel and Aubrey * Nevis Unipan as Samantha (seasons 2–3), a little girl who was left on the ''Resolute'' following the evacuation. She befriends the Robinsons. * Amanda Marier as Samantha's mom (season 2) * Russell Hornsby as Grant Kelly (season 3), Judy's biological father and the commander of the ill-fated ''Fortuna'' mission * Charles Vandervaart as Liam Tufeld (season 3), Penny's new love interest * Elias Leacock as Noah (season 3), a child who was stranded in the Jupiter transporter

Guest

* AnnaMaria Demara as Tam Roughneck (season 1), a mechanic and friend of Don West's * Selma Blair as Jessica Harris (seasons 1–2), June's wealthy younger sister *

Bill Mumy Charles William Mumy Jr. (; born February 1, 1954) is an American actor, writer, producer, and musician. He came to prominence in the 1960s as a child actor whose work included television appearances on ''Bewitched'', ''I Dream of Jeannie'', ''T ...

as Zachary Smith (seasons 1–2), the real Dr. Smith whose identity June steals. As a child, Mumy portrayed Will Robinson in the original ''Lost in Space'' series from 1965 to 1968. *

as Sheila Harris (season 2), June's mother. As a child, Cartwright portrayed Penny Robinson in the original ''Lost in Space'' series from 1965 to 1968. * Alison Araya as Aubrey Azevedo (seasons 2–3), a physicist and passenger on the ''Resolute''. She is married to Izabel and is one of Elise's mothers. * Rob LaBelle as Mr. Jackson (seasons 2–3), the school teacher aboard the ''Resolute'' *

as June (season 3), a radio communications officer on Alpha Centauri (credited as "the Voice of Alpha Control", the name June is denoted by subtitles). June Lockhart portrayed Maureen Robinson in the original television series. * Karen LeBlanc as the chancellor of the Alpha Centauri base (season 3)

Episodes

Season 1 (2018)

Season 2 (2019)

Season 3 (2021)

Production

Development

In October 2014, it was announced that Legendary Television and Synthesis Entertainment were developing a new reboot of ''

Lost in Space ''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. Lightly dramatic, sometimes comedic in tone, the series was inspired by the 1812 J ...

'' and had hired screenwriting duo Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless to pen the pilot episodes. In November 2015,

landed the project. On June 29, 2016, Netflix ordered a full 10-episode season of ''Lost in Space'', with Zack Estrin as executive producer and

. Sazama, Sharpless,

Kevin Burns Kevin Burns (June 18, 1955September 27, 2020) was an American television and film producer, director, and screenwriter. His work can be seen on A&E, National Geographic Channel, E!, Animal Planet, AMC, Bravo, WE tv, Travel Channel, Lifetime, ...

Jon Jashni Jon Jashni is an American media investor and advisor. Work In 1999, Jashni and Kevin Burns formed Synthesis Entertainment, which develops and produces content based on properties of the Irwin Allen estate such as ''Poseidon'', '' Voyage to th ...

Neil Marshall Neil Marshall (born 25 May 1970) is an English film and television director, editor, producer, and screenwriter. He directed the horror films ''Dog Soldiers (film), Dog Soldiers'' (2002) and ''The Descent'' (2005), the science fiction action f ...

, and Marc Helwig also serve as executive producers.

Filming

Production on the first season began in February 2017 in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia, and concluded in July 2017. The second season began production in

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

and Alberta in September 2018, and concluded in January 2019. Filming for the third and final season began in British Columbia on September 9, 2020, and concluded on January 14, 2021.

Release

On March 31, 2018, the series pilot was screened at Awesome Con in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

The first season, consisting of 10 episodes, was released on April 13, 2018, on

. On June 4, 2019,

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 20th Century Home Entertainment (previously known as Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC. and also known as 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment) was a home video distribution arm that distributes films produced by 20th Century Stud ...

released

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

s and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

s of the first season titled "Lost In Space: The Complete First Season". The second season, also consisting of 10 episodes, was released on December 24, 2019, on Netflix. The third and final season, consisting of eight episodes, was released on December 1, 2021.

Reception

Critical response

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported a 68% approval rating based on 75 reviews, for the first season, with an average rating of 6.43/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "''Lost in Space''s production values are ambitious enough to attract sci-fi adventure fans, while the story's large heart adds an emotional anchor to all the deep space derring-do."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a normalized score of 58 out of 100 based on 27 critics for the first season, indicating "mixed or average reviews". David Griffin of

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

gave the first season a rating of 8.5/10, calling it "an excellent sci-fi adventure with a slight villain problem", giving particular praise to the Robinson family, while criticizing Parker Posey's Dr. Smith as an unsophisticated and one-dimensional character who lacks redeeming qualities. In contrast, Jen Chaney of ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...

'' characterized Posey's performance as providing "understated, sly comedic touches", and Beth Elderkin of ''

Gizmodo ''Gizmodo'' () is a design, technology, science, and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the sub-blogs ''io9'' and ''Earther'', which focus on pop ...

'' agreed: "Her performance definitely includes the character’s trademark levity and humor." On

the second season has an approval rating of 85% based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's critics consensus states: "Gorgeous effects and a simple, solid, story help ''Lost in Space''s second season find itself on stronger ground." Dylan Roth of ''

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...

'' gave the third season a mostly positive review, calling it an "exciting, delightful, and self-contained space adventure that stands in contrast against the ever more complex universes of its contemporaries." Roth criticized the character of Dr. Smith however, and the overall writing of the show's antagonists. Renaldo Matadeen of '' CBR'' criticized the show's handling of Dr. Smith's narrative arc.

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{Netflix original ended series (2012–2018), state=collapsed 2010s American drama television series 2010s American science fiction television series 2020s American drama television series 2020s American science fiction television series 2018 American television series debuts 2021 American television series endings American English-language television shows Lost in Space Fiction set in 2046 Netflix television dramas Television series by Legendary Television American post-apocalyptic television series Space adventure television series Television series about families Television shows filmed in Vancouver American television series reboots Television series set in the 2040s Television series set on fictional planets Television series about being lost from home