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.
On October 19, 1899, the steamship Kerberos 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 Clmence struggle with intimacy. Maura has strange visions. She encounters the captain of the Kerberos, Eyk, who warns her to follow the ship's rules.
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. ngel gives Krester a cigarette tin. Jrme breaks into Lucien and Clmence'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.
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 ngel 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.
The mutineers sail the Kerberos westward. Franz forces Jrme 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 Clmence, 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 Jrme to escape. Krester spits in ngel's face in front of Iben, but she tells him she wishes God had taken him rather than Ada. Jrme encounters Clmence 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.
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 survivors head to different tasks: Maura and Eyk look for the boy; Ramiro and Anker stay in the bridge with Sebastian; ngel, Jrme, Lucien, Olek, Ling Yi, and Franz head to the engine room to restart the engine; and Virginia, Clmence, 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.
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.
Maura, Eyk, Jrme, Clmence, 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.
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), Daro 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]
On 16 December 2020, it was announced that Emily Beecham was cast in the lead role.[10] On 2 May 2021, Aneurin Barnard, Andreas Pietschmann, Miguel Bernardeau, Maciej Musiał, Anton Lesser, Lucas Lynggaard Tnnesen, Rosalie Craig, Clara Rosager, Maria Erwolter, Yann Gael, Mathilde Ollivier, Jos Pimento, Isabella Wei, Gabby Wong, Jonas Bloquet, Fflyn Edwards, and Alexandre Willaume were added to the cast, with each character speaking in the actor's native language.[11]
Pre-production for the series officially commenced on 24 November 2020, with a week-long lens test shoot taking place.[12][13] The series was initially scheduled to begin principal photography on 1 February 2021,[14] but was later pushed back by 3 months. Filming officially began on 3 May 2021 at Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam, the only designated UNESCO Creative City of Film in Germany.
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]
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