The news was first broken by series co-creator Baran bo Odar
on his Instagram page.
"With a heavy heart we have to tell you that 1899 will
not be renewed," Odar wrote in a note signed by both him and his creative
and romantic partner, Jantje Friese.
"We would have loved to finish this incredible journey
with a 2nd and 3rd season like we did with Dark. But sometimes things don't
turn out the way you planned. That's life."
As they mention, Odar and Friese had previously worked with
Netflix on the time-travel series Dark, which became a global sensation as
viewers tried to untangle its puzzle-box mysteries. In turn, 1899 posed
mysteries of its own.
The series followed the passengers on a steamship traveling
from Europe to America in the titular year, only to be caught up in the
question of what happened to a similar migrant ship as supernatural phenomena
began to accumulate on board.
"It's structured again as a three-season mystery puzzle
just like Dark," Friese told EW for our Fall TV Preview earlier this year.
"Obviously, this will only happen if enough people watch."
Apparently, not enough people watched. Lately, it's become
difficult for a genre show to last multiple seasons on Netflix. The Midnight
Club was also recently canceled after a single season.
The eight-episode series featured an ensemble cast, speaking
in 12 different languages, as means to represent different European cultures.
1899 was also the first TV series after The Mandalorian to employ the new LED
Volume technology to create visual sets, which basically relied on giant
digital screens for the background, instead of a green/ blue screen.
In order to create a continuity effect when switching
between cameras between characters, the crew of the Star Wars show would shoot
in one direction on day one, then the opposite on day two. In 1899, however,
the crew simply put the screens on a turntable, which allowed them to spin the
set around conveniently.
All eight episodes of 1899 are currently streaming on
Netflix. The studio hasn't disclosed a reason for the cancellation.