by Matt Sernaker, Managing Editor
Danger Will Robinson! Lost in Space is back as a new Netflix Original Series, and ComicsOnline has brand new interviews with the cast and crew. First up is our interview with Toby Stephens (Die Another Day) and Molly Parker (Deadwood), who play John and Maureen Robinson. The duo discussed the new family dynamics, the stakes of the new show and more during our WonderCon 2018 roundtable interview.
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Q: The show changes some of the backstory from the original versions. John’s not really the erudite professor he’s been in past versions. He’s a bit rougher. He’s a bit more, shall we say, captainly? How did you approach the characters? Did you watch the old series? Did you watch the ’98 film? Or did you say screw it, I’m smart, my kids are smart, he’s kind of an ass?
MP: Umm, a combination of all those things, except I didn’t ever see the ’98 film. I did watch the original. I think basically this show wants and intends to be true to the spirit of the original show, which was an exciting fun adventure about a family.
TS: I didn’t [re]watch the series. I had seen it a long time ago when I was a kid, but I couldn’t really remember that much about it, and I deliberately didn’t. I went “Well they;re obviously trying to do something new with this, so I’m not going to go back and troll through all those episodes. But it’s trying to be respectful to the original, in that it’s the same premise, but make it for a new audience. You know, if we tried to remake the original, everybody’d just be like *honks nose* turn around, ya know? But I suppose to try and be true to what the original did to kids at the time and try and do it now for a new audience… To have kinda kids just totally blown away by the visuals…
MP: And like full belief in it, you know?
TS: …And the characters. And wanting them to survive… liking them, hopefully.
MP: And Parker [Posey]’s talked about–and I’ve heard other people talk about, having grown up watching the show–wanting to play those parts. Watching to watch and pretending to be those people. And in that sense, it’s sort of asperational, which I think we also are trying to do, but also we took this job knowing that Netflix is making it. And they were going to put a lot of money into it and it was gonna look awesome. And that also… Audiences are very sophisticated today. Kids are very sophisticated. And to believe that these people are actually in space, you have to make it look like they are actually in space.
Q: The pilot episode had a lot of physicality behind it. Can you talk about some of your personal challenges while filming this season?
MP: It just all hurts.
TS: Yeah. In those spacesuits.
MP: Those space suits are outrageous.
TS: They look great, but they are really hideous to wear.
MP: They’re torture devices.
TS: Yeah, we spent a lot of time…
MP: …complaining about them
TS: …on a glacier.
MP: Yeah.
TS: …With kind of fake snow on the glacier.
MP: The first shot was on the glacier.
Q: So an actual glacier?
TS: No, no, it was in studio. We did actually, the kind of wide shots, me and Max… That was on an actual glacier. But I got the worst sunburn from that. I remember I actually got sunburn on my eye up here. It was the reflection from the snow.
MP: The show was more physical and sort of dirt under your fingernails adventure than I had anticipated when I took the job. And I’m a bit kind of wimpy and not particularly athletic, so that was a surprise. I really did think, you know, that sci-fi’s gonna be on a studio… The original was all on a studio… And we spent at least half our time like way out on top of a mountain, way north in Canada. It was in the rain in the winter it was quite, ummm…
TS: But then I think that lends it an authenticity.
MP: Absolutely. Because you’re dealing… One of the things I found somewhat difficult, and you’ve done it before. That is sort of the green screen work. When you’re trying to relate to things that just aren’t there. I remember at one point you were like “You’re just going to have to give in to it.”
TS: Give in to it.
MP: Just go for it!
TS: Yeah, you can’t be self-conscious.
MP: You can’t, because you feel ridiculous. At one point they built the Jupiter. It was this huge set. It was probably the size of this room. And it lands in the ice on an angle. So they built this thing so that it could tip, like thirty degrees. Which is a lot. And then they had this idea that we were going to shoot on it tipped on its side? And the DP walked on it and then they put it up to like ten degrees and he immediately felt like he was gonna vomit. Because as soon as you can’t–there’s no horizon, there’s no windows, you can’t see anything–it puts your balance all off. So we couldn’t shoot it like that. So instead, I had to like walk into rooms like it’s on an angle when it is not and you just feel completely and uttery ridiculous.
Q: It’s like the old Batman climb.
MP: Totally. And then you also think…
TS: We did some Star Trek moments where we all had to throw ourselves around. And I was going “Fuck, man, I’ve always wanted to do this! I’ve ALWAYS wanted to do this!”
MP: Be a high-winds actor.
TS: Be a high-winds actor.
Q: There is a realistic dynamic between Maureen and John. They’re getting divorced when she’s decided to take the kids to frikkin outer space. And John’s in combat.
TS: Yeah.
Q: I have questions about the combat. Like “what war is it being fought?” but then it also doesn’t matter at all.
TS: Well just to answer that, I think that the logic that I had for it was basically ever since this meteorite has hit… I think before the meteorite hits, there’s been all kinds of stuff going on. We don’t know, but it’s sort of some kind of terrible…
MP: It’s a breakdown of civilization.
TS: Things are getting bad on Earth anyway, and he’s been out there, having to deal with it. And then once the meteorite lands, that changes everything and he’s in… There’s a civil breakdown. People are rioting, they’re looting, there’s all kinds of stuff. And he’s out there having to deal with all kinds of stuff.
MP: And he’s been gone for years and years and years and not been a part of the family and she’s done it on her own and she has this opportunity to take her family to somwhere where they could actually have a future and so she just decides she’s gonna do it.
Q: He’s practically a stranger to Will, which is why he bonds with the robot.
MP: Yes, exactly.
TS: I really loved that when I read the first script: This dynamic between the robot and Will and also the father. Suddenly there’s this relationship that they have, that he offers the kid protection. And it’s totally undisputed loyalty, which the father has not been able to provide. And so there this wonderful kid of thing where they’ve set up this sort of competition between the two. And it’s not like John is like “I have to get this thing away from my son.” It sets him a challenge of “How do I find that way into my son[‘s life] again?” And I found that quite moving.
Q: And then there’s some difficulty with Judy? Because Judy’s not Maureen’s.
TS: Yeah.
MP: Yeah, no, but that’s not the problem. Judy is Maureen’s daughter from a pervious relationship. But he and Judy have always been very close. And the idea is that we got together when Judy was a baby and [John] is for all intents and purposes her father.
TS: And she feels the portrayal of me being absent.
MP: She’s very angry at her father.
TS: She’s very cross. They’re all out for me.
MP: Oh, poor you.
Q: Well, he’s been out pirating this whole time.
TS: Exactly. It’s not easy.
Q: What do you guys like most about setting a family drama in outer space?
TS: I think because what it allows you to do is it allows you to play a domestic situation in a totally ludicrous context. You’re playing it in this hostile environment where all the things are trying to get them. And the kids are doing things that would happen in any family but in this bizarre context. I think that gives a really fun dynamic. And I think the audience will really love it because they’ll recognize themselves.
MP: Yeah, It’s great to get to play scenes for the truth of whatever the relationship is on one level while there’s this other level going on and you also get to play with a lot of buttons. So that’s good.
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Special thanks to NETFLIX for arranging this interview.
Lost In Space premieres on April 13th on Netflix.
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