Netflix‘s perplexing mystery thriller 1899 has been canned after just one season.
Launched on the streaming service in Nov. 2022, the ambitious, multilingual series from the team behind Dark will not be renewed for Season 2, creators Baran bo Odar and Jantje Freise confirmed on Monday with a statement on Instagram.
“With a heavy heart we have to tell you that 1899 will not be renewed. We would have loved to finish this incredible journey with a second and third season as we did with Dark. But sometimes things don’t turn out the way you planned. That’s life,” the co-signed statement reads.
“We know this will disappoint millions of fans out there. But we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts that you were a part of this wonderful adventure. We love you. Never forget.”
Set 13 years before the Titanic’s doomed voyage, the eight-episode series introduced a collection of eclectic characters on migrant steamship Kerberos, sailing from London to New York — the cast included Dark‘s Andreas Pietschmann, Dunkirk‘s Aneurin Barnard, Hail Caesar’s Emily Beecham, and The Rain‘s Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen among many talented others. Investigating a mysterious signal from another ship, Prometheus, which had been missing for months, the ship’s crew and passengers are drawn into a nightmarish journey that discombobulates time and logic — and ends in a big cliffhanger. Friese and bo Odar had publicly spoken about plans for Seasons 2 and 3.
Lynggaard Tønnesen also tweeted an early selfie with his castmates, saying the cast were “all truly devastated” by the decision not to move forward with the second and third seasons.
Mashable has reached out to Netflix for comment, as the streaming service has not yet released an official statement on the non-renewal. It’s not clear exactly why the series has been cancelled, though it’s especially curious considering the overwhelming popularity of the show — Netflix’s public ranking system saw 1899 sitting in its top 10 TV shows for a month following its launch in Nov. 2022 (two episodes premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September). In December, Netflix said that 1899 had clocked up a whopping 87.9 million hours viewed.
1899‘s cancellation might have something to do with costs (just take a peek at Netflix’s behind-the-scenes special Making 1899 for a look at all that tech, including groundbreaking LED sets). The streaming service has been pinching pennies since 2019 when price hikes saw subscribers bailing by the bucketload. Netflix currently appears to be back on track, spending $17 billion on content in 2022.
Fans of the Netflix show have already established a petition to save it, of course.
