EXCLUSIVE: Mina Sundwall Talks her Journey and the Final Season of Lost in Space
Lost in Space is jetting into its final season on Netflix and we got the chance to speak with one of the stars of the series, Mina Sundwall. Sundwall plays one of the Robinson children, Penny in the Netflix remake.
During our chat, Sundwall talked the show’s final season, Penny’s journey over the last three seasons, her appearance on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and so much more. You can check out what she had to say below.
Can you kind of preview what’s to come for Penny and the Robinson family in the upcoming final season?
“For Penny, part of her journey from the beginning has been finding where she fits in the family and how she can contribute. I’m really pleased with where her story ends up this year because I think she does find her importance. A lot of who she is and what I admire about her is the fact that she’s never put up a front for anybody. She’s always been herself, even if it would have been easier to put up a front for the sake of fitting in. And I think that even through the twist and turns of being a teenager, that has served her well in the long run and that’s a big part of her journey this year.”
Are you satisfied with how her journey comes to an end?
“Yes.”
Was there anything that surprised you this season?
“I’m surprised every year. They don’t hold back on putting the Robinsons through some pretty crazy situations. Every few scripts it’s kind of like, ‘Whoa, okay, sure, we’re doing that.’ I was pleasantly surprised.”
How do you think you’ve grown since Season one?
“It’s been five years so I’ve done a lot of growing on and offset generally speaking. I was 15 when we started and I’m 20 now. Those are pretty formative years and when I started I was in high school, it was my first time on a set this big. I’d never worked with VFX like this. I’d never done this long of a shoot or in a new country like this, but now I’m much more comfortable. I think a lot of that is due to the fact that I spent five years sponging up as much as I could from the incredibly talented adults on our set. And without that experience, I don’t think I would’ve been able to carry myself in the same way.”
You have worked with some amazing adults over the years, so for you, what have you have taken from some of them that you are going to make sure you include in your own performances going forward?
“Molly [Parker] has an incredible grasp on a story. I’ve watched her break down episodes in her mind and see just a glimpse into how she thinks, teaches you so much about what it means to work on a set, understand a story, and understand building a character arc. I’ve learned so much from watching her.
We also are very lucky to be working with a robot character, which is partially a man in a suit and partially VFX.I think you learn a lot about what it means to be human from watching someone perform as something not human. Seeing his movements and how he physicalizes learning emotions and processing new things, taught me a lot about acting in the body and using yourself as a tool for your performance in a completely different way. I don’t think there was a day on that set where I wasn’t learning something so it’s hard to narrow it down, but those are two that come to mind right now.”
To read the rest of our interview click under the jump. Lost in Space will premiere its final season tomorrow, December 1.
Photo credit: Kelsey Hale
Do you think Penny would’ve become the person she is if she hadn’t gone through everything in the first two seasons?
“Penny is much stronger in Season three than she was in Season one, partially because of growing up and that comes with age and independence and maturity. But, also because she’s had to deal with stuff that no one has ever had to deal with before in the context in their world. We start this season with the kids separated from the parents, which is a whole new layer, because they’re facing new versions of obstacles without that support system to fall back on. And actually similarly to how a lot of teenagers are feeling right now. I think, being in isolation for so long and separated from so many people and dealing with a huge change, feeling like you’re on your own. It changes who you are and how you approach things and your perspective on life. So definitely I think it’s influenced who they are.”
What would you say was the most challenging part about filming this final season?
“Aside from the fact that COVID changed a lot of things on set from the practical side in terms of new policies and making sure that everybody is safe and adding that layer. That is something that we hadn’t had to deal with before obviously and we were learning how to navigate that on top of filming a pretty rigorous season with a long schedule. I sit in a weird place with it because it’s very, very challenging and always something new, but I also love it and I find it so much fun. So it’s challenging in a positive way. The stunts are always something I love to do. There are a lot of stunts this season. I got to do things that I’ve never done before and acting while doing them was a new challenge that I was very, very enthusiastic about.”
How do you balance your work life and your professional life?
“Caffeine, mostly. I think there’s a little voice in my head that has to tell stories and I haven’t quite found a way to get it to stop talking yet. So there is never a moment where I’m not happy to be doing it. I always want to talk about it. I always want to do it. I would rather be bouncing multiple stories than none at all. I’m just kind of grateful for every minute of it.”
You have been appearing on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow as Lita. Is there any talk of having Lita physically appear back on the show?
“There’s nothing that I know of as of right now but if there is something in the future, I’m sure you will hear.”
I’m hoping so because I love your character’s dynamic with everyone on the show. How is it filming that show compared to Lost in Space?
“The biggest difference really is between starting a show and coming into a show where there’s already an established cast, and the Legends group, they’re such wonderful people. They’re so fun to be around. I love being on that show and they were so welcoming when I started that it ended up feeling just a lot of fun. They have really light energy.”
So what’s to come next for you?
“I just wrapped a movie that I’m really excited about and super passionate about. It’s been kind of a labor of love and I’ve started directing which is very exciting. I’m hoping to delve into that world a little bit more in the coming year.”
Is that where your new passion lies, behind the camera, or do you still want to act?
“I think it’s a mix of the two. It’s something I’ve all always wanted to do. I think the kind of storytelling I was interested in when I was really young, and I didn’t realize, was directing. As I’m getting older, I’m kind of recognizing that that’s [directing] something I’m super interested in. Being across different projects, I’ve gotten to see how different directors treat the story differently and what approaches they take. That taught me a lot in a very short period of time. And so that’s made me interested in telling the story a different way. You make different decisions as a director, you can envision it differently and I’m really interested in that part of storytelling.”
Do you have a preference of what type of directing you want to do, TV or movie?
“I think it’s a little too early to call it, to be totally honest. I’m interested in learning as much as I can right now. Of course I’m super interested in film and longer winded stories, but I think it might be too early to pinpoint, this is my thing.”
As an actor though, do you have a preference?
“I don’t actually. I like them both for different reasons. Having spent so long on the same show, where we shoot for six to seven months at a time, you become very engulfed in the story and getting those different perspectives on the same story can sometimes open your eyes to things that you didn’t see before. But I also love film because it’s condensed and it is much shorter shooting period and it is one vision, So it really depends honestly. I know that’s kind a halfway answer but I do like them both.”
To bring it back to Lost in Space, is there something from filming over these last three seasons that you’ve learned about yourself that you were surprised to find when all was said and done?
“I think there are many things so it’s another thing that’s hard to narrow down to one thing. It’s interesting because Penny and I were always very similar age, with time jumps especially we’re very close in age. I was going through some of the twists and turns of teenage years that she was. I was in a slightly less extraordinary intergalactic situation but the emotions were there. And, I had the writers to write all these solutions. It’s funny, I always joke that now I have to make my own jokes which is going to suck but there’s a lot that I’ve learned through playing her because I’ve seen how she’s handled different situations. I’ve learned parts of myself that I wasn’t not expecting, but I just hadn’t realized yet when we had started.
I guess on the other side from being on set like I said before, being able to watch everybody, learn from them, and spend so much time just listening and absorbing. I’ve learned a lot about how I like to work and how I need to break things down to process a script. I’m a psychology major in university. I think that is in large part due to the fact that I started acting when I was young. I’d always be interested in people and every time you get a new script or a new character it’s like a lesson on life every day.”
When you look back on these three seasons of Lost in Space, did you find that this season you had a little bit more say in how Penny would react in certain scenes?
“I think it’s a mix of the two actually. I don’t think it was more or less say. I think we’ve had a good amount of open conversation happening since season one. I started ad-libbing little lines in season one that became some of the one liners and have had conversations with the writers since then about how to grow in her maturity. I think the only conversation I’ve really lost the battle to has been the poop jokes. We’ve had the poop jokes every season even though there is a young teenage boy with us. That’s okay, we’ll deal with it. In between seasons they do ask us what we’re interested in and what we’ve would like to see for the character. And so we’ve gotten to have a bit of say from the character’s perspective in a way. So a mix of the two, I definitely trust the writers and they’ve created this huge magnificent world, but we have been able to have conversations about the little details in terms of the character growth.”
To sneak one last final question in what are you hoping fans get from this final season?
“I hope that after such a tumultuous year with so much negativity and sadness across the world. That the adventure and the excitement and the hope and the love from the Robinsons can bring people joy. It’s a family show. It’s a show about a family that loves each other and that will do anything to help each other and that sticks together no matter what. And I think that we could use some of that in the world and so I hope that people find the love and joy that we have in the show and have a lot of fun. That’s kind of my main thing is always have fun.”