One of the great sensations in recent days has been ‘1899’, the new mystery and science fiction series from the creators of ‘Dark’. The end of its first season makes it clear that the idea of those responsible is to continue with the story, but Netflix The second season has not yet been confirmed.
“We’re not trying to make it easier.”
That does not mean that its creators Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese already think about the future of ‘1899’, but also about the inevitable comparisons with ‘Dark’. On this point, Friese highlights the following in an interesting interview with The Hollywood Reporter:
We didn’t want to exactly copy the way we structured things on ‘Dark’. I think the two concepts needed two different kinds of storytelling. In the case of ‘Dark,’ the story revolves around time, using something linear and creating a lot of knots, for the audience to figure out how to untangle the story into a more linear logic.
‘1899’ has a different structure. But it’s not what we thought: People didn’t understand ‘Dark’, so we have to make this easier. I think it’s a very individual thing. We’ve talked to a lot of people who’ve had a chance to see the first six episodes, and it’s sort of half and half. Some said: Oh, I felt more at ease, like it was easier to understand. Others were like: This has a lot more complicated puzzle pieces, what are they doing? I think it is an individual experience. We are not trying to make it easier.
We try to be very true to our core audience, who love puzzles, but who also know every code and every culture. They are very good at putting the pieces together. We want it to be a great experience for them and not be too easy. If you’re in that main group and you’ve cracked it, you should be proud of yourself, it’s an amazing experience.
For his part, Baran Bo Odar recalls the importance of make a fair comparisonWell, we’ve already been able to see ‘Dark’ in its entirety, while ‘1899’ has only been released for one season. And on top of that, he has no problem pointing out that the really strange and disconcerting part of his new series is yet to come:
But let’s not forget that ‘Dark’ had three seasons. If you just compare the first season of ‘Dark’ to the first season in 1899, I think they have a similar complexity. Dark only really got complicated in seasons two and three. The first season is actually very simple: It’s a small town, with kids going missing, and then there are some time travel events in the cave. Michael (Sebastian Rudolph) is Michael. It’s very simple. But now everyone has seen all three seasons, and it gets really complicated. We already have ideas for a second and third season of ‘1899’, and it will be more complicated.
Unfortunately, Odar does not go into more detail about it, but the one that does point some more detail about that inevitable second season is Friese, also returning once again to the comparisons with ‘Dark’:
We always like to have an end before we start. We want to know where we are going. We are progressing in a story and we want to know how it will be resolved in the end. In between, there may be some more loose ideas. And as we go through the process, ideas can change and move to a different position. For example, in Dark, the idea of the parallel universe was always planned for the second season. And then as we were working on it, we decided to move it into season three. Those things always happen. You try to be flexible, to allow the process to surprise you as you carry it out, but knowing where you are navigating.
What is clear is that the story of ‘1899’ It will require at least three seasons for everything to be closed. Let’s hope Netflix doesn’t decide to cancel it early…
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