Netflix's Lost in Space: Cliffhanger Ending Explained

WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Lost in Space Season 1

The finale episode of Netflix's Lost in Space ends on a serious cliffhanger, which means there is some explaining to do. There's nothing but hope and optimism surrounding the Netflix reboot returning for more seasons, but to tip the odds in their favor, the creators of Lost in Space ended their first season's story on a major twist. Just as the Robinsons seemed to be back on track, an alien engine hurled them through space to a strange new alien solar system. So where are they? And are they stranded for good?

The first season reveals it was no coincidence that a robot - later, THE Robot - attacked The Resolute, sending the entire disaster into motion. And as confusing or mysterious as the revelations surrounding the alien engines may be, the hints were actually there from the start. The first episode of Lost in Space actually begins by putting the biggest mystery and plot device center stage. The reason why most viewers may not have noticed it is because... well, they didn't know to look for it just yet.

With the first season behind us, let's do our best to see the Lost in Space's Cliffhanger Ending Explained.

This Page: The Robot Planet Cliffhanger Explained

The Robinsons' Final Destination isn't Random

The final scene is guaranteed to delight fans of the original series and the 1998 Lost in Space movie reboot, even though it takes the Robinsons from one solved problem to a brand new one. That's because the status of the cast in the finale's last moments is, more or less, the original premise of the show. A single ship, with the Robinsons, Don West, and Dr. Smith on board... well, completely lost in space. But just because they're lost doesn't mean the audience doesn't have a suspicion about where they've been sent. And going by Will's reaction, he re an earlier scene vividly.

The final image the Robinsons are left to gaze upon is a powerful one, both in of science fiction and science fact. From the first glance, it may be seen as two planets making . In truth, the scene looks to a be binary star system, with not one star at its center, but two so close together that they share material (in this case, they overlap so greatly it would be an over binary star. It's a heck of a sight, but really does occur in the universe - the binary star system VFTS-352 can be found in the Tarantula Nebula, which is part of the Large Magellanic Cloud 160,000 light years from Earth.

But what makes this particular star system so important to Lost in Space is that it's been shown in the first season once before.

Yes, that strange group of symbols that Robot drew in the sand - overlapping circles, surrounded by five small dots - seemed important at the time. And as the rest of the Jupiter 2 crew looks upon the system dumbfounded, Will recognizes it immediately, along with the single-word name Robot gave to it: "Danger." The connection is easy to spot when the images are placed side-by-side, and draw attention not to the stars, but the five small planets orbiting them. So, the Robot tried to communicate this location to Will Robinson earlier in the season... what does that have to do with them winding up in this very spot?

That's the question that will propel the second season of Lost in Space, whenever it may arrive. Based on the facts alone, it seems that humanity's theft of an alien engine, the aliens attacking, and that engine auto-piloting the crew to a star system a friendly robot warned against is all connected. Some of the most direct theories are already starting to appear online, suggesting that the planets are the homeworlds of Robot's race (or the homeworld of the aliens who designed them). From there, it's s toss-up of whether the engine's sudden trip through a wormhole is designed to return home, or the result of being called home.

If it's called home, then it's almost certainly the alien engine answering. Which leads to the biggest mystery of the entire first season and series: What is going on with the alien robots?

The alien engine sits in the Jupiter 2 in Lost In Space.

The Alien Engine is The Key To The Show's Story

Depending on which of those outcomes you think more likely, the Robinsons may have a chance at evading capture, or be sitting ducks. It's hard to imagine that the show's writers would send their stars flying directly into certain doom in the finale's final scene. That being said, it's not as if the heroes of the show couldn't find their way out of such a predicament. If that's the case, they're sure going to wish their friendly Robot didn't drift out the airlock before making the jump.

In the case of humanity's escape plan from a dying Earth to a new home in Alpha Centauri, the technology for interstellar travel wasn't within our own grasp. The answer, eventually discovered by Maureen and June aboard the Robot's crashed ship, is that humans relied on one of their alien engines. Attained under mysterious circumstances and covered up with the story of a "Christmas Star" meteor impact, Earth's powers secretly tapped into the power it made possible. Thankfully, Maureen had helped build The Resolute to endure the power the alien engine would unknowingly provide.

The engine helped make one of the biggest changes to Netflix's Lost in Space story possible - that our heroes are part of the 24th group of colonists traversing space thanks to the engine's power. Enough time, it turns out, for them to come back for the technology we stole.

As we mentioned before, there were clues to pick up on even before the show's cast uncovered the truth of their crash. The warping/wormhole effect of the alien engine being overtaken by the aliens who built it (or at least the one tearing its way on board The Resolute, possibly) is seen in the first episode. That effect returns in the finale of the first season for the same purpose: to tear open a hole through the fabric of space, and suck nearby spaceships into it. In the finale, that ship is the Jupiter 2 with the Robinsons and engers on board.

They may seem to have left the other humans and colonial intrigue behind, but not the driving force of the story. They still have an alien engine tapping itself into their ship's computers, pulling them through space for a reason they don't yet know. One can be assumed, since the entire story has all been about an alien race trying to re-acquire their technology from the humans who stole it. And the biggest questions remain unanswered - and potentially massively important for the fate of the Robinsons.

How exactly did humans get the engine? What was the meteor impact? A meeting between races gone bad? A crashed ship of total coincidence? That's all for fans to speculate on until more of the Lost in Space story can be told.

What do you make of the final scenes of Lost in Space's first season? Have we called out the story beats and lingering mysteries you think most important? Or have we overlooked or misread a detail you think too vital to miss? Let us know your own theories in the comments.