From left: Maxwell Jenkins, Mina Sundwall and Taylor Russell
Taking part in the 2018 reboot of “Lost in Space” was especially memorable for Taylor Russell (Judy), Mina Sundwall (Penny) and Maxwell Jenkins (Will), the three young actors who portray John and Maureen Robinson’s kids. It was the trio’s first time to act in a big-budget sci-fi show.
“For us kids, we went through a lot of firsts together,” Taylor says. “It was nice to have each other to lean on, and talk about the memorable experiences we were having during the shoot.”
For this article, we asked the young actors to talk about their favorite scenes in the show:
Maxwell: I’ll never forget going up on top of the glacier. My scenes with Toby (Stephens, who plays his father John), where we were walking in the snow, weren’t greenscreen—we were on a real glacier! We had to take a one-hour and 45-minute ride on a snowmobile to get there.
It was cold but sunny, and Toby didn’t think of getting sun protection. The following day, he had sunburn above his eyes and under his nose, and the glass of the space suit charred half his face (laughs).
It happened the day before my birthday (April 30), so it was a really good present for me. The stunt men let me ride a snowmobile, and we went out to have fun.
I also enjoyed doing the zero-gravity stuff, because I had to pretend I was weightless when, in fact, I was merely holding my whole body up with a harness.
Mina: I was only 15 years old when we shot the pilot season. I had unforgettable sequences on the Chariot, which was our vehicle. It was a massive piece of machinery that was attached to an actual car.
When they told me that they wanted my character, Penny, to drive it, and me knowing I’ve had zero driving experience, I felt like I would crash it and get fired (laughs).
The show taught us to work as a team and work through our differences.
Taylor Russell
Taylor: My favorite part was definitely not the drowning scene (laughs), where I was just panicking all the time! The beautiful spaceship was memorable. We all stepped on it and were blown away by its beauty. It was meticulously crafted, and every button had a purpose. It was like being on a playground every day.
Just as memorable were the cold nights in Canada, where most of the scenes in the series were shot. Suffering together was better than suffering alone, that’s for sure (laughs).