Epic Period Mystery 1899 Is Now Streaming on Netflix

A brand-new period mystery is coming to Netflix this year, and it looks extremely good—and spooky. Here's everything we know about 1899, the horror mystery set on an immigrant ship headed to America from Europe:

What is 1899 about?

Per Netflix, "A migrant steamship heads west to leave the old continent. The passengers, a mixed bag of European origins, united by their hopes and dreams for the new century and their future abroad. But their journey takes an unexpected turn when they discover another migrant ship adrift on open sea. What they will find on board, will turn their passage to the promised land into a horrifying nightmare."

Watch the first trailer here for the mystery-horror series here:

In September, Netflix released an ominous moving poster with the teaser, "what we know is just a drop in the ocean."

With just a few weeks until the premiere, the streamer dropped the official trailer:

"We really want to take a look at Europe, just take it, put it on a ship, in a confined space, with lots of ocean around, where you can’t escape, and have like a little bit of an experiment, almost like a laboratory experiment. How do people cope with situations when they’re not able to speak the same language? What happens when you have all these different cultural backgrounds, that are put into a space like this? That’s what triggered the process," creator Jantje Friese explained.

The show features an international cast.

The ensemble cast stars Emily Beecham, Aneurin Barnard, Andreas Pietschmann, Miguel Bernardeau, Maciej Musial, Lucas Lynggaard Tonnesen, Rosalie Craig, Yann Gael, Mathilde Ollivier, Isabella Wei, Gabby Wong, Fflyn Edwards, and Alexandre Willaume.

The show features actors who speak in their native languages on the show.

1899 was created by Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar, who previously made Dark for the streaming platform. "Being true to the cultures and the languages was really important, we never wanted to have characters from different countries but everyone speaks English," Friese told Deadline of the decision to have the show be in multiple languages. "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 behavior."

During a table reading on Zoom, she explains, "it was such an amazing experience to hear everyone speak in their language, going from Spanish to French to Polish, and have it all come together. I hope it’s going to make English-speaking people learn and love different languages as well."

This made filming a bit difficult. "Our scripts look like Frankenstein monsters. The entire script was in English, but everything was dual dialogue. So, you would have the English dialogue on the left side and then the translated dialogue for that character in their language on the right side. And every dialogue portion had a script note. And in that script note, there would be a meta-conversation about language," Friese said.

"1899 is pioneering in terms of its commitment to authenticity of language," Netflix’s director of International Originals Rachel Eggebeen says. "It’s exciting to be part of a truly international show. There will be points in the show where characters have problems communicating because of the languages."

Is 1899 related to Dark?

The creators are the same. "Knowing that we did Dark, everyone can be assured that this is going to be something weird and wild and crazy," Odar told Deadline. "We don’t repeat ourselves, we really hate that, but it’s going to be a fun puzzle for the audience. We are going back to our mystery roots."

When does 1899 premiere?

The show had a two-episode premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, and it drops on Netflix on November 17, 2022.

All eight episodes are now streaming.

Watch 1899 on Netflix

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