How Is Judy Robinson Related to Her Parents on Netflix’s ‘Lost in Space’?

Netflix Will and Penny and Judy Robinson on Lost in Space

One big and welcome change for Netflix’s new series Lost in Space is Taylor Russell, who plays John and Maureen Robinson’s oldest daughter, Judy Robinson. She’s incredibly talented and brings real authenticity to her role. Her character is a prodigy, training to be a doctor and truly able to stay calm under pressure. But she also has enough vulnerabilities to make her relatable in the storyline. She’s a real character with real struggles, and Russell portrays all the facets of her character beautifully. But fans might be wondering a little about her character’s background and how her story has changed since the original series. Just how is Judy Robinson related to her parents John and Maureen, since she’s a different race from them and from her siblings? The rest of this article has very minor spoilers from the series itself. 

By the time we get halfway through the series, we still haven’t been told much about Judy Robinson’s background or exactly how she’s related to her parents. In fact, the question only first comes up when she’s with Don West and he wonders out loud how they’re related. But the creators of the show have already provided us with the background on Judy’s story. According to the Lost in Space wikia, Judy is Maureen’s biracial daughter from her first marriage. She never actually knew her biological father, and John adopted her as his own daughter. This might be part of the reason why she took the marital troubles her parents were having really hard, and developed a resentment to John over the whole thing. Perhaps it is misplaced anger about her biological dad not being around.

It’s unclear halfway through the season who her biological father is, or if that will play a role in the series’ future. It will be interesting to see if the show works this into the storyline somehow.

There’s also one other question about Judy Robinson’s history, as compared to the original series, that some fans may be wondering about. If you remember from the original series, Judy Robinson and Don West really hit it off and were quite close. In fact, the creators of the original series intended the two actors to have a romantic relationship, but the addition of Jonathan Harris slowed down that idea. Harris was so beloved by fans that the creators ended up turning most of the plot lines over to him, Pop Entertainment reported. So the characters’ romance never got very far.

In this new series, it’s really not clear if a romance might be pursued or if it will be more of an older brother/younger sister type of scenario. The actress who plays Judy, Taylor Russell, was born in 1994. The actor who plays Don West was born in 1982. So it’s not completely outside the realm of speculation that there might be a romance (they’re 12 years apart in real life). But on the series itself, the age difference seems pretty noticeable on screen and appears to be even greater. So maybe he’ll just be an ally and a close friend this time around. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.