‘Lost in Space’ dad Toby Stephens turns baddie for ‘Alex Rider’

After three seasons as the patriarch of “Lost in Space,” Toby Stephens relished being a “baddie” as “Alex Rider” takes off for its second season Friday on IMDb-TV.

Alex Rider, the teenage MI6 spy created by Anthony Horowitz (“Foyle’s War,” “Magpie Murders”), is a hero to Stephens’ son.

“I’ve known Anthony and worked with his wife (TV producer) Jill Green,” Stephens, 52, said in a Zoom interview.

“When they very kindly asked me to play this, I said to my son, Should I do this?  Particularly to play Damian Cray?

“‘Oh my God!’ he said, ‘You’ve got to do this.’ So I rushed to the bookshelf, pulled out the book and found it really fun. I read the first four scripts and immediately realized the series is very different from the book.

“I really enjoyed the book but this is just much more current. What I liked about Cray was that he was, on the surface, this successful, vibrant character who runs this massive company and he’s seemingly lovely to all of his workers.

“But underneath he’s somebody else. There’s this whole backstory that has shaped him. And actually, this surface with his business is a facade. Underneath it, there’s a very different person with very different motives.”

“Space,” with its final season beginning this week, departs from the original. “What they’ve done,” he emphasized, “is they created a multi-family that is nuanced. Being lost in space is an allegory of a family trying to survive life.

“The kids are growing up — and how that changes everything. It’s just they’re in space. What I liked about the writing is that the parents are not apple pie all-American. It’s a complex marriage and follows the trials and tribulations of their relationship with their kids.

“What I love is they’re aspiring, like we all aspire, to be better people. They’re aspiring to be better parents and do the right thing. That’s like a really lovely thing to play.

“Very different from Cray. But I guess the baddies always have the fun.”

Stephens was a virtually unknown film actor when he played his memorable baddie: Bond villain Gustav Graves in “Die Another Day” (2002).

It led to a long family-style association with 007. “I’ve now done audio versions of every single one of the Ian Fleming Bond books.

“The idea was to go back to the original books with very faithful dramatizations because the movies are so different. The plotlines change violently.”

His favorite? “From Russia With Love.”