Netflix Lost in Space
Taylor Russell plays John and Maureen Robinson’s oldest daughter Judy Robinson on Netflix’s Lost in Space. Judy is a delightful character. She portrays a very intelligent doctor who’s quite the prodigy, but has enough vulnerabilities still in her character to leave her authentic and sympathetic to viewers. She has real struggles that draw the viewer in for both Seasons 1 and 2 of Lost in Space. Her character has a more tragic background than the other two Robinson children. If you’re wondering just how Judy Robinson is related to her parents John and Maureen, here are some details along with minor spoilers from Season 1 and 2. This story will have minor spoilers for Season 2 also, but nothing that reveals major plot twists in the show.
Judy Is Maureen’s Biological Daughter, Adopted by John Robinson
According to the Lost in Space wikia, Judy is Maureen Robinson’s biracial daughter from her first marriage. Judy never actually knew her biological father, and John adopted her as his own daughter.
In Episode 5 of Lost in Space Season 2, we get a few more details about Judy’s biological father.
In a presentation she made when she was really little, Judy talks about how both her biological dad and her adopted dad are her heroes. She says her biological dad is Grant Kelly, the “famous astronaut.” Her dad was born in Detroit, Michigan and got a scholarship to MIT when he was just 17. After entering the space program, Kelly went to the moon and Mars. Her dad was one of the first people to work on the Alpha Centauri program, she explained. But she never got to meet her dad because he died before she was born. But she was always told that he was very courageous.
In the same heartwarming scene, she says that John Robinson is also her hero. John adopted Judy and he takes great care of her, she shared in her presentation. The scene was heartwarming because John got teary-eyed and choked up hearing that he was Judy’s hero too. He had helped her with the presentation about Grant, you could tell from the scene, but had no idea about the second part where she talked about him. It was really sweet.
So although they aren’t related by blood, Judy and John Robinson are very close and have a strong father-daughter bond.
Another big difference between Judy Robinson in Lost in Space on Netflix and in other iterations is that the traditional romance that was hinted at between Judy and Don West in the original series is not a factor in this series. 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 the Netflix series, the two actors are about 12 years apart in age and have vastly different life experiences. These Netflix characters have a brother-sister type of relationship rather than a romantic one.