1899 is a multilingual German period mystery-science fiction television series created by Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar. It premiered on Netflix in November 2022 and received generally favourable reviews. The series was cancelled in January 2023.
Premise
Set in 1899, the series follows a group of European emigrants travelling from Southampton, UK on a steamship named Kerberos to start new lives in New York City, US.
Cast and characters
Main
Emily Beecham as Maura Henriette Franklin/Singleton, a neurologist and one of the first female doctors in Britain, travelling alone to America
Aneurin Barnard as Daniel Solace, a mysterious man who boards the Kerberos.
On October 19, 1899, the steamshipKerberos is sailing from England to New York City. Four months earlier, its sister ship Prometheus disappeared without a trace on the same route. Maura and many of the first-class passengers on Kerberos are in the dining room when third-class passenger Krester bursts in pleading for a doctor. Krester is thrown out by Franz, but Maura follows Krester down into third-class, where she resolves Tove's tangled umbilical cord. Lucien and Clémence struggle with intimacy. Maura has strange visions. She encounters the captain of the Kerberos, Eyk, who warns her to follow the ship's rules.
After receiving a message of only a set of coordinates, presumably from the Prometheus, Eyk changes course of the Kerberos to those coordinates, to the chagrin of many passengers. Kerberos sights the Prometheus, which appears to be abandoned. Eyk boards Prometheus with Maura, Ramiro, Olek and Jérôme. Ángel takes an interest in Krester. A mysterious man boards Kerberos and moves into the room next to Maura's. On Prometheus, Eyk finds a strange hairband, and discovers that the telegraph is destroyed. Maura follows a scarab beetle to a cabinet and opens it to find a boy, who hands her a black tetrahedron object.
2
"The Boy"
Baran bo Odar
Jantje Friese & Dario Madrona López Gallego
17 November 2022 (2022-11-17)
Eyk receives a message from the shipping company reading only two words: "Sink ship". Maura houses the boy, the only person discovered on Prometheus, in her room. She discovers a ring in his possession, and a symbol of an upside-down triangle with a horizontal line behind his left ear. The mysterious man introduces himself to Maura as Daniel. Ángel gives Krester a cigarette tin. Jérôme breaks into Lucien and Clémence's room and leaves a Legion of Honour medal. Eyk has hallucinations of his wife and daughters, who died in a house fire some years ago; one of his daughters wears the same hairband found on Prometheus. He wakes up to find a shaft has appeared under the bed in his room.
Tove finds the cigarette tin and angrily returns it to Ángel; Ángel and Ramiro have an argument which leads to them having sex. Jérôme is discovered to be a stowaway and subdued. Maura shows the boy a letter bearing the same triangle symbol which led her to board the ship, but he remains mute. Eyk decides to tow Prometheus back to Europe, to the growing displeasure of many passengers and crew. Eyk shows Maura a similar letter that led him to Kerberos, and he believes answers lie with the Prometheus. Ada is found dead. Elsewhere, someone is monitoring the ship's occupants on screens.
3
"The Fog"
Baran bo Odar
Jantje Friese & Emma Ko
17 November 2022 (2022-11-17)
Ada's cause of death is unable to be determined. After Kerberos runs into heavy fog, Eyk orders the ship to stop and wait until the fog clears. Eyk shows Maura the hairband and the shaft in his room. The two head back to Prometheus to find its logbook. First mate, Sebastian uncovers a panel and inputs a sequence made of triangles. While hiding from her mother after an argument about her training to be a geisha, Ling Yi has flashbacks of her friend's accidental death which led to her boarding Kerberos. Olek finds Ling Yi and comforts her.
Disobeying Eyk's orders to keep Ada's death secret, Franz lets Tove retrieve her body. Krester gives Ángel a handjob. Daniel enters Maura's room and meets with the boy. On the Prometheus, Eyk and Maura find another shaft bearing the triangle symbol, which is also the ship company's logo. More bodies are found on the Kerberos.
Eyk finds a document in Prometheus's furnaces which he hides from Maura. Ling Yi entertains Lucien, though he has a seizure after an interruption by Clémence earlier prevented him from taking medication. Furious with Eyk's decision to return to Europe and hide Ada's death, Franz arms the third-class passengers and urges them to launch a mutiny. Olek attempts to warn Eyk but is beaten and locked up with Jérôme. Ramiro warns Eyk, but both are arrested by mutineers led by Tove. Daniel uses a device resembling a sliding puzzle to teleport the Kerberos.
4
"The Fight"
Baran bo Odar
Jantje Friese & Jerome Bucchan-Nelson
17 November 2022 (2022-11-17)
The mutineers sail the Kerberos westward. Franz forces Jérôme and Olek to throw the bodies overboard. Sebastian convinces Iben the boy is to blame for the deaths, and she takes command of the mutineers and orders a search. Lucien finds the medal and attacks Clémence, only to apologize and leave. Eyk and Ramiro escape captivity. Iben leads a search of Maura's room, but the boy has disappeared. Maura discovers a shaft appearing under her bed with the boy hiding in it. The boy uses a beetle to lead Maura to a safe path across the ship. Olek stages a distraction, allowing Jérôme to escape. Krester spits in Ángel's face in front of Iben, but she tells him she wishes God had taken him rather than Ada. Jérôme encounters Clémence and the two find Eyk and Ramiro, later joined by Maura and the boy. The six attempt to launch a lifeboat, but are found by the mutineers.
The boy surrenders himself, but Jérôme tries to intervene and is shot. Jérôme has flashbacks of his time in the French Foreign Legion alongside Lucien. When Lucien's suggestion to desert was rejected by Jérôme, he locks Jérôme in a cell, steals the uniform of a dead officer, and leaves the medal with Jérôme. Back on Kerberos, Eyk and Jérôme rally loyalists opposed to the mutineers. The two sides clash, but Iben throws the boy overboard before Maura can reach him. Eyk sounds a retreat. He confronts Maura with the document, which lists her as a passenger on the Prometheus. The boy reappears on the Kerberos to shocked loyalists.
5
"The Calling"
Baran bo Odar
Jantje Friese & Juliana Lima Dehne
17 November 2022 (2022-11-17)
Disgusted by Iben and Krester's actions, Tove defects to the loyalists. Frightened of the boy, the loyalists lock him in a cabinet. Maura is shot at while trying to free him, but time suddenly freezes, and the boy leads her away. When time resumes, a mysterious ticking noise causes most of the ship's passengers, including Yuk Je and Krester, to enter a marching trance and throw themselves overboard. The boy writes Maura a cryptic note that "they" are listening, and whispers to her that if she wants answers, she needs to "ask the Creator". Using a beetle to reveal a passage in the shaft, the boy takes Maura to an abandoned mental asylum. Daniel follows and promises the boy "he" wouldn't find him.
The Kerberos receives a second "sink ship" message. Exploring the asylum, Maura encounters Henry. She asks him about her long-lost brother, Ciaran, but is injected with a black substance and wakes up again on the Kerberos. Maura tells Eyk that her father is the owner of the ship company. She uses the beetle to open a passage in the shaft in Eyk's room, which lead them to Eyk's burned house. Daniel disables the ticking, and the survivors regroup.
6
"The Pyramid"
Baran bo Odar
Jantje Friese & Emil Nygaard Albertsen
17 November 2022 (2022-11-17)
The survivors head to different tasks: Maura and Eyk look for the boy; Ramiro and Anker stay in the bridge with Sebastian; Ángel, Jérôme, Lucien, Olek, Ling Yi, and Franz head to the engine room to restart the engine; and Virginia, Clémence, Tove and Iben search for survivors. A black metallic substance begins to appear and grow in the ship. Tove experiences hallucinations of Krester and Ada, and has flashbacks of her rape by a feudal lord due to Krester's relationship with the lord's son, and her killing the lord. Olek and Ling Yi share their first kiss.
Maura and Eyk return to the asylum; they find the walls appear to be the ship's hull. Virginia touches the substance and it spreads through her hand. Sebastian teleports off the ship and meets with Henry, who tells him to find the boy. The engine is restarted. Daniel follows Maura and Eyk; Eyk and Daniel fight, and Daniel teleports him away with the device. Daniel tells Maura they were married 12 years ago and that nothing in their world is real; Maura locks him in a room and takes the device. Eyk wakes to find himself on the Prometheus, surrounded by a sea of similarly abandoned ships.
7
"The Storm"
Baran bo Odar
Jantje Friese
17 November 2022 (2022-11-17)
The Kerberos sails into a storm. The survivors in the bridge head to the engine room for help. Halfway, Iben refuses to follow the rest of the survivors, and Anker stays with her. Olek and Ling Yi head to the bridge to steer the ship. Franz and Tove move to seal the bulkheads. Daniel breaks down a wall and climbs through a series of portals in different landscapes. Maura climbs through the shaft in Daniel's room and finds herself in an abandoned house; she sees flashbacks of her with Daniel and finds photographs of the two of them with the boy.
Daniel finds the boy and pledges to restore Maura's memory so she can "end this loop once and for all"; the boy gives him a wedding ring. Daniel finds Maura and tells her that the boy is their son, named Elliot. He also tells her that they are in a simulation, and that she needs to find the override. Maura takes out a key from her locket. Lucien collapses from a seizure; Clémence and Jérôme try to get him to his medicine, but Lucien dies before it can be administered. Ling Yi sees a vision of Yuk Je and runs out; Olek saves her, but is swept overboard by a wave. Ángel is hit by falling debris and dies in Ramiro's arms. Franz sacrifices himself to save Tove. Iben and Anker drown together. Sebastian brings Elliot to Henry, and Henry demands the key from Maura over an intercom in exchange for her son. The simulation ends and the Kerberos is transported to the sea of ships, where the passengers find Eyk.
8
"The Key"
Baran bo Odar
Jantje Friese
17 November 2022 (2022-11-17)
Maura, Eyk, Jérôme, Clémence, Ramiro, Tove, Ling Yi and Virginia realize they all received a letter which led to them boarding the Kerberos. Maura tells them they are in a simulation orchestrated by her father, but all except Eyk distrust her and leave. Maura takes Eyk through the shaft in Daniel's room to his memories of their family. Maura and Eyk break down a wall and enter a series of portals. Henry injects Elliot with a white substance, unlocking a memory in which Maura injects Elliot with a black substance despite Daniel telling her to "let him go". Daniel hacks into the simulation, changing the code and causing many disruptions.
The rest of the survivors escape from the rapidly expanding black substance in the ship, teleporting into each other's backgrounds before ending up back on the ship.
Maura and Eyk run into Sebastian at the asylum. Sebastian uses a device to incapacitate Eyk, then take Maura to Henry and hands him the key. Henry tells Maura she is the Creator. Henry uses the key with the tetrahedron, but Daniel has made them useless. The simulation ends. Maura is reunited with Daniel, who tells her that Ciaran took over the program. Daniel gives her the means to leave, telling her he will "always be there". Maura wakes up alone in a starship called Prometheus, surrounded by many others that were on the Kerberos, placed under suspended animation. On a computer terminal, she sees the date is October 19, 2099, and receives a message from Ciaran welcoming her to reality.
Production
Development
Series creators Jantje Friese (left) and Baran bo Odar (right)
On 13 November 2018, it was announced that Dark creators Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar were developing the project for Netflix under their overall deal at the streaming service.[1] The series was confirmed to be moving forward two weeks later during a Netflix press conference showcasing European original programming.[2] By July 2020, bo Odar revealed via Instagram that Friese had completed writing the script for the pilot episode, titled "The Ship."[3] During an interview with Deadline Hollywood, Friese explained how the European migrant crisis and Brexit were influential to the series, saying:
The whole European angle was very important for us, not only story wise but also the way we were going to produce it. It really had to be a European collaboration, not just cast but also crew. We felt that with the past years of Europe being on the decline, we wanted to give a counterpoint to Brexit, and to nationalism rising in different countries, to go back to that idea of Europe and Europeans working and creating together. Being true to the cultures and the languages was really important, we never wanted to have characters from different countries but everyone speaks English. We wanted to explore this heart of Europe, where everyone comes from somewhere else and speaks a different language, and language defines so much of your culture and your behaviour.
As with Dark, Friese served as the head writer of the show. The staff writing team comprised writers of different nationalities including Emma Ko (from Hong Kong and the UK), Coline Abert (from France), Jerome Bucchan-Nelson (from the UK), Juliana Lima Dehne (from Brazil and the US), Joshua Long (from the US), Darío Madrona (from Spain), and Emil Nygaard Albertsen (from Denmark). According to director Baran bo Odar, all scripts were first written in English, then the non-English sections were translated by the staff writers and/or translators. Odar had phonetic copies of the script on set, and language assistants were present during filming to ensure the accuracy of the dialogue.[4]
Friese and bo Odar have ideas for two more seasons, with increased complexity compared to season 1.[5] The planned three-season structure stems from Friese's and bo Odar's film background, where films have three acts.[6] The first season served to establish the theme and characters and pose big questions.[6] If ordered by Netflix, the second season would explain the symbology of the triangles, and Maura's brother would be an important character.[6] bo Odar described this second act as "all about the fun and games, where you play with the theme, and maybe get a little bit more megalomaniacal and crazy, and then resolve it in the third season into a hopefully satisfying resolution."[6]
Budget
The budget for the series was at least €60 million ($62.2 million) with €2 million coming from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg,[7] €10 million coming from the German Motion Picture Fund,[8] and Netflix investing €48 million in the project. 1899 is the most expensive German television series of all time.[9]
The series was shot in a new virtual production stage called Volume, operated by bo Odar and Friese's sister company Dark Bay, at Studio Babelsberg.[15] Filming also took place in London, England.[14] Creative studio Framestore provided visual effects for the series.[16] Filming wrapped in November 2021 with Baran bo Odar posting on Instagram.[17]
Release
1899 had a two-episode premiere on 47th Toronto International Film Festival on 12 September 2022. The series launched on Netflix on 17 November 2022,[18] along with a companion making-of documentary titled Making 1899.[19]
Netflix announced a few days after release that 1899 was in 58 countries the most watched product of all the offerings available on Netflix at that time.[20] Despite this, on 2 January 2023, the show was cancelled.[21]
Cancellation and response
Writing in Forbes about the cancellation of 1899 and other Netflix series, Paul Tassi said that "I feel like Netflix is almost actively stealing my time from me. [...] It's frankly exhausting, and if it's this exhausting for viewers, I have to imagine it's ten times as much for showrunners and actors. Netflix is becoming a graveyard stacked with dead series with unfinished conclusions. [...] Something has to change."[22]
Writing in Digital Spy, David Opie said that "for all we know, there might be talks to save the show at HBO or Prime Video, plus there's a small chance that Netflix themselves might try and wrap things up in a one-off special or movie. That's exactly what happened after fans decried Netflix's decision to cancel Sense8 a few years back [that is also an international genre show]."[23]
Fans took to social media to decry the decision, and a petition to save the show was started on Change.org. As of 23 January 2023, it had garnered over 87,149 signatures.[24]
Reception
Audience viewership
During its debut week, 1899 ranked at number two on Netflix's Top 10 TV English titles just three days after its release with 79.27 million hours viewed.[25][26] The following week, the series remained at the same position and garnered 87.89 million viewing hours.[27][28] In its third week, the series generated 44.62 million viewing hours, while also holding its position at number two.[29][30]
Critical response
The series received generally positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 79% based on 28 reviews, with an average rating of 6.80/10.[31] The website's critical consensus states, "1899 navigates its multicultural passengers through an atmospheric mystery and delivers a suspenseful journey, even if it may never reach a satisfying destination."[31] On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the series has a score of 66 out of 100 based on 12 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[32]
Collider named 1899 as one of the best new TV shows of 2022,[33] while MovieWeb ranked it the sixth best TV show of the year.[34]
^ abcd"1899: Wir erklären die verwirrende Netflix-Serie (mit Baran bo Odar und Jantje Friese)". streamgestoeber.podigee.io (Podcast) (in German). Streamgestöber. 23 November 2022. Event occurs at 36:30. Archived from the original on 24 November 2022. Retrieved 24 November 2022. Friese: Also, es wird [in der zweiten Staffel] auf jeden Fall aufgeklärt, was es mit diesen ganzen Dreiecken und so, Symbolen, zu tun hat. / bo Odar: Und der Bruder wird einen wichtigen Charakter spielen, auf alle Fälle. Also Mauras Bruder. [...] Wir kommen ja eigentlich vom Film, und deswegen auch immer drei Staffeln, weil wir das wie drei Akte sehen. Und der erste Akt ist dazu da, alles zu etablieren, das Thema zu setzen, die Charaktere einzuführen, eine große Frage zu stellen, die dann am Ende beantwortet wird. Und die zweite Staffel ist ein klassischer zweiter Akt eines Films, wo es um das Fun and Games geht, wo man mit dem Thema spielt, und man vielleicht noch ein bisschen größenwahnsinniger wird und verrückter, um es dann in der dritten Staffel in einer Auflösung, hoffentlich befriedigend, auflöst. Weil definitiv, die zweite Staffel wird etwas verrückter und wilder. Wenn es eine [zweite Staffel] gibt.
