1899 Was Canceled By Netflix & Fans Are Disappointed

This fall, the creators of Netflix’s Dark returned with another spooky and mind-bending show. Titled 1899, the series follows a group of European migrants on a steamship who are hoping to find a better life in the United States. But their journey takes an unexpected turn when they discover another migrant ship adrift on the open sea — and the discovery of what’s on board turns their trip into a nightmare.

“I would say it's a drama mystery show, or maybe a mystery thriller. I mean, we're always mixing genres, but the DNA is not per se a horror show,” creators Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar told Entertainment Weekly.

It’s a story that was inspired by the European migrant crisis, they explained to Deadline. “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,” said Freise. “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.”

Friese told EW that the show was purposefully "structured again as a three-season mystery puzzle, just like Dark.” Considering Dark was one of Netflix’s biggest international hits, 1899 was expected by many to garner a similarly impressive audience. And that it did! According to Netflix, 1899 spent five weeks on the streamer’s Top 10 chart. During its first week, it was second only to The Crown — and during its next two, only to Wednesday. So it’s safe to say that 1899 was able to hold its own next to some of the fall’s buzziest titles.

Despite its popularity, 1899 was canceled by Netflix, the show’s creators revealed on Jan. 2. “We know this will disappoint millions of fans out there,” Friese and Odar wrote. “But we wanted to thank you from the bottom of our hearts that you were a part of this wonderful adventure.”

Fans were, indeed, disappointed by the news — and many took out their frustration on Twitter.

As several users pointed out, the 1899 cancelation is the latest disappointing development from Netflix — following reports the same day that Wednesday might have to move to Prime Video due to streaming rights, per The Independent.

As is often the case with shows that are canceled too soon, fans made a petition to renew 1899, and at the time of publication, there were more than 30,000 signatures.