You may have heard “Danger, Mr. Robinson! Danger!” in a classic robot voice before and never known why. Of course, fairly soon, the only thinkable danger will be from dangerously-low Vitamin D levels after spending days upon days inside bingeing yet another to-be Netflix Original Series.
The iconic cult favorite Lost in Space has been greenlit for a series remake by Netflix, Deadline reports. The show’s team have been given ten episodes for the pilot season, and the content will likely heavily mimic the original 1965 classic.
For those too young to remember, the show follows the Robinson family after they become isolated in outer space en route to where they meant to end up, thousands of light years away. Lost in Space mostly featured the trials and tribulations that the cast has to endure given the cosmic circumstances and was considered both a drama and a comedy (one of the first of its class).
The new incarnation springs from the minds of longtime fan Kevin Burns, as well as Jon Jashni (Synthesis Entertainment), Neil Marshall, and Mark Helwig (both of Legendary TV), who will all act as show-runners. For Burns, at least, finding a place for his remake project in Netflix has been a long time coming. Burns initially tried to lift his idea off the ground in 1999, but his show was axed when one of the original actors passed away. The new Lost and Space tried to get air in 2003 at Warner Bros., but the pilot was dropped fairly quickly.
Netflix, however, seems excited about its resurrection. “The current creative team’s reimagining of the series for Netflix is sure to appeal to both fans who fondly remember the original and to create a new generation of enthusiasts around the world,” said Cindy Holland, Netflix’s VP of Original Content.
Now is the perfect time for Lost in Space to launch back to Earth. The latter 2000s continued into this decade has been chock-full of remakes of popular sci-fi classics, from Doctor Who–which returned in 2005–to the Star Trek franchise, which will once again hit theaters for the third time later this year, to Marvel movies and DC movies and the list goes on and on. Many of these, however, are either wrapping up or losing their luster; how many Star Trek movies does JJ Abrams really have in him before he wraps it up? Doctor Who hasn’t seen ratings on the higher side in years.
In a market hungrier for modern nerd culture, Lost in Space–with all of its quirkiness and charm–may be exactly what TV viewers need. Especially since they can engorge on it likely all in one sitting.
The writers for the new series include Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (Dracula Untold, The Last Witch Hunter). Taking on the roles of EP are Zack Estrin (Once Upon a Time), as well as both head writers.
The ten-episode remake of Lost in Space is set to be released in 2018.