Season 1

Season 1 of the Netflix original multilingual mystery thriller, 1899 was picked up for 8 episodes on November 14, 2018.^[1] It was released on November 17, 2022.

On January 2, 2023, creators Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese announced that 1899 had been canceled and would not be returning for a second season.^[2]

Synopsis[]

The original series revolves around a migrant steamship heading west to leave the old continent from London to New York. The passengers of multinational origins are united by their hopes and dreams for the new century and their future abroad. When they discover another migrant ship adrift on open sea, their journey takes an unexpected turn. What they find on board will turn their passage to the promised land into a horrifying nightmare.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Supporting[]

Episodes[]

#	Title	Writer(s)	Director	Air date
1	"The Ship"	Jantje Friese	Baran bo Odar	November 17, 2022
Maura helps a pregnant woman. The captain makes a brave decision after receiving a message from a lost ship — and discovers something mind-bending.
2	"The Boy"	Jantje Friese & Dario Madrona Lopez Gallego	Baran bo Odar	November 17, 2022
The captain experiences unexplainable flashbacks. A strange man follows Maura to her cabin where a boy is hiding. A bug leads to a tragedy on deck.
3	"The Fog"	Jantje Friese & Emma Ko	Baran bo Odar	November 17, 2022
A girl and other passengers suffer a terrible fate. Olek frees Ling Yi from a box. The captain makes a discovery that challenges his trust in Maura.
4	"The Fight"	Jantje Friese & Jerome Bucchan-Nelson	Baran bo Odar	November 17, 2022
Several crew members and passengers search the ship for the boy after locking up the captain, Olek, Jérôme and Ramiro. Krester’s secret is revealed.
5	"The Calling"	Jantje Friese & Juliana Lima Dehne	Baran bo Odar	November 17, 2022
Maura has terrible flashbacks and makes a shocking move. A sound leads some passengers to jump overboard. Maura makes a discovery about her father.
6	"The Pyramid"	Jantje Friese & Emil Nygaard Albertsen	Baran bo Odar	November 17, 2022
Tove has scary flashbacks and wants to kill the boy. Daniel follows Maura and the captain into a strange place. Maura's father appears with a message.
7	"The Storm"	Jantje Friese	Baran bo Odar	November 17, 2022
Daniel asks Maura for something she doesn't understand. Olek and Ling Yi steer the ship before a tragedy occurs. Elliot's identity comes to light.
8	"The Key"	Jantje Friese	Baran bo Odar	November 17, 2022
Maura tells the passengers an unbelievable truth. Then, their memories shift and Daniel changes a code. Maura faces an unexpected reality.

Production[]

1899 was ordered to series on November 14, 2018.^[1]
On November 24, 2020, pre-production was underway.^[3]
On December 16, 2020, Emily Beecham was cast as a series regular.^[4]
On May 2, 2021, Aneurin Barnard, Andreas Pietschmann, Miguel Bernardeau, Maciej Musial, Anton Lesser, Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen, Rosalie Craig, Clara Rosager, Maria Erwolter, Yann Gael, Mathilde Ollivier, José Pimentão, Isabella Wei, Gabby Wong, Jonas Bloquet, Fflyn Edwards and Alexandre Willaume were cast as series regulars.^[5]
Filming was initially supposed to take place all over Europe, during which point, they would go to water tanks and build ship set pieces, but then the pandemic occurred, forcing them to seek other options.^[6]
- Production began May 2021, on a newly-built, state of the art virtual production stage housed at Babelsberg Studios in Germany.^[7] It concluded November 2021.^[3]
- Similar to the tech notably used on Disney's The Mandalorian, the stage is 75ft across and 23ft tall, with 4,500 sqft of shooting space. It is surrounded by a dynamic LED backdrop that is rendered in a video game engine (Unreal Engine) in real-time, moving with the camera to simulate a realistic background and sky that creates the illusion of shooting outdoors. The technology eschews the need for green screen and drastically reduces the post-production process.^[5]
With 1899 being both a multicultural and multilingual series, the scripts called for every language from English to Cantonese to Danish, and many others. So to achieve this, co-creator Jantje Friese initially wrote the scripts in English, and then writers and translators from various continents advised on the parts that needed to be in other languages. On set, co-creator Baran bo Odar had phonetic scripts to reference as he directed scenes and language assistants on stand-by to make sure nothing got lost in translation.^[6]
Much like DARK, 1899 is structured as a three-season mystery puzzle.^[6]

Soundtrack[]

Song	Artist(s)	Scene
White Rabbit	Eliot Sumner and Ben Frost	Playing during the series title sequence

Trivia[]

On November 11, 2022, 1899 was accused of plagiarizing Brazilian comic artist Mary Cagnin and her 2016 comic book Black Silence, a claim that co-creator Baran bo Odar vehemently denied.^[8]^[9]