Envisioned as the follow-up creation of the team behind Dark, the show premiered on the streaming platform on December 17, 2022. It performed admirably, drawing huge interest and being one of the most-watched Netflix shows for the last six weeks of 2022. Coming in at a close second to the worldwide hit Wednesday is nothing to be ashamed of, but Netflix doesn’t base decisions on performance alone. In an Instagram post, Dark and 1899 showrunners Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar, revealed the saddening news that their show won’t be renewed for season 2. The show stars Dark’s Andreas Pietschmann, Emily Beecham from Hail Caesar, Dunkirk’s Aneurin Barnard, as well as Gabby Wong. With Jantje Friese co-writing with a slew of contributors, and Baran bo Odar serving as the director, the show had a chance to develop a long-lasting legacy. This is what they had to say upon hearing the news: The show’s action is set 13 years before the Titanic’s doomed journey, with 1899 starting by asking, “What if there was a ship, and then there wasn’t a ship?”. A collection of eclectic characters are introduced as they sail from London to New York on a migrant steamship. After investigating a signal from another ship that’s been missing for a couple of months, the ship’s crew and passengers are drawn into an adventure that’s going to make you question the very nature of reality itself. And apparently, Netflix wasn’t on board with the idea, despite the showrunners publicly stating interest in sequels beyond the series’ first eight episodes. As sad as it may seem, 1899 won’t have a hard time looking for a buyer if the showrunners stop shopping the follow-up seasons around. Speaking of Netflix, the streaming giant’s decision to cut down on password sharing hasn’t gone so well. The alternative, which is introducing an ad-supported plan, has gone worse as only a very small fraction of users ended up taking advantage of the economical service.
