Netflix has opted to pick up right where it left off as we enter 2023; by canceling hugely popular fantasy projects that drew in huge viewership figures. The first casualty of 2023 was mind-melting multilingual favorite 1899, but the biggest surprise regarding the show’s axing is that people were actually surprised.
After all, history has shown on way too many occasions that garnering a substantial online following and making a splash on the most-watched charts doesn’t do a damn thing to prevent the series in question from being dragged onto the chopping block, and there are even rumors making the rounds that the bulletproof Wednesday could be snatched away by Prime Video due to a contractual loophole.
1899 may have topped the rankings in an impressive 57 countries after its first weekend of availability, before hanging around the Top 10 for weeks on end after that, but you’d have thought the various creatives and showrunners in Netflix’s employ would know much better by now than to end their first season on a cliffhanger that then goes frustratingly unresolved.
We’ve seen it happen very recently to Archive 81, Half Bad: The Bastard Son & the Devil Himself, First Kill, Resident Evil, and The Midnight Club to name but five, all of which were only released within the last few months. At this stage, anyone who pitches an episodic fantasy to the company should really tie up any unresolved plot threads by the finale, because there are absolutely no guarantees of a return.