There is officially no point whatsoever in becoming emotionally invested or attached to a Netflix fantasy series, with 1899 the streaming service’s first high-profile casualty of the year, and the 25th genre show to be binned since the beginning of 2020.
In the vast majority of cases, the projects to have been executed before their time fared admirably on the platform’s viewership charts, with the multilingual chiller from the creators of the phenomenal Dark no different. In fact, not only did 1899 debut at number one in 57 countries, it spent weeks hanging around the Top 10 to cement its enduring popularity.
And yet, Netflix saw fit to wield the axe one season and eight episodes in, with the creators admitting they had plans for second and third runs that won’t come to fruition. Looking at an intense, atmospheric, and largely acclaimed episodic offering that drew in a bumper audience for weeks on end, it’s hard to quantify the decision to toss 1899 on the scrapheap. Or is it?
One of the major criticisms of the show was its leaden pacing, with far too much time spent dragging its heels in between the major reveals, revelations, and jaw-dropping twists. As a result, What’s on Netflix has crunched the numbers to determine that while a substantial number of people fired up the opening episode of 1899, not a lot of them made it to the end.
Netflix is very keen on discovering the “completion rate” of its in-house exclusives, so even though 1899 racked up close to 260 million viewing hours during its first four weeks, data from a third-party analytics firm indicates that only 32 percent watched the finale.
If there’s a cavernous discrepancy between the people who started 1899 and the those who actually finished it, then the cancellation call become much clearer, and a great deal simpler.
