Reality went from falling apart, to seemingly outright collapse. Here’s what happened in the ending of 1899.
The conclusion to the first season of Netflix’s original period-piece drama 1899 effectively pulled the rug out from under many viewers with its season-ending plot twist. The seemingly time-displaced occupants of the steamship Prometheus were actually involved in a far more elaborate trap, as it’s revealed that the entire ship is a malfunctioning virtual reality simulation and the actual crew is occupants of a space station in the near future of 2099.
The reveal that the show’s cast is trapped inside a simulation, far from the reaches of planet Earth, ends on a cliffhanger that leaves fans with unanswered questions. Here’s what happened at the end of Netflix’s 1899.
The Prometheus Ship
Maura was the sole person to escape the simulation, having found the true exit that had been hidden after her brother took over the programming and changed the exit method. She awakens to find that the time-displaced ship she was traveling aboard, supposedly in the year 1899, despite the presence of electronic devices and television, was all a fabrication of a simulation she and her peers have apparently been repeating on a loop. In what Maura assumes is proper reality, she and her peers are onboard a spaceship called the Prometheus, and a digital display claims it is currently the calendar year 2099.
Her brother, Ciaran, chimes in on a computer display, welcoming her to reality. Whether this is reality or another layer of the simulation is left ambiguous to Maura and the audience as the finale closes out. The simulation ship and space-ships name, the Prometheus, is based on a Greek legend. Prometheus was bound to a rock and destined to have his liver carved out and eaten by an eagle, only for the liver to re-grow and the punishment to re-occur day after day. This likely implies that Maura and the rest of the ship’s crew have been experiencing a repeating cycle in that period-piece simulation for some time, and only now has that cycle begun to break down with her escape.
The Future Of 1899
Unfortunately, much like Maura herself, 1899 is likely to be trapped in a state of limbo, as the show has been canceled by Netflix and will not be receiving a second season. The series co-creator Baran bo Odar stated that there were plans laid out for a three-season storyline for the series, similar to their 2017 Netflix series Dark. With Netflix dropping users month after month and planning to add cheaper subscription plans that include advertisements, the higher-ups have been cutting as much fat from their catalog as possible to slow the financial bleeding the company has been facing.
Unfortunately for 1899 and the viewing audience that eagerly awaited answers to this world-shaking season finale, it seems that this show failed to prove profitable enough to keep around during this troubled period for the streaming service juggernaut. Barring a change of heart sometime in the future that leads to a revival, it is sadly unlikely that 1889 will be seen again on-screen unless Netflix sells away their rights to the show to the creators or a competitor that could continue the project for their own platform. Barring total financial ruin, this possibility is unlikely, meaning that fans of 1899 may join the ranks of many other television shows and Netflix series that were canceled prematurely, never to be followed up on or seen again.
