New series 1899 has made its way to Netflix with the eight-part mystery-horror following a group of European migrants crossing the Atlantic from London to New York.
Neurologist Maura Franklin (portrayed by Emily Beecham) who is one of the first female doctors in the United Kingdom finds herself aboard a ship carrying an abundance of migrants chasing the American dream.
When the hauler comes across another migrant ship, a series of unfortunate yet unexplainable events occur - with the concept being completely inspired by real-life events.
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The Express reports that the highly-anticipated new masterpiece is the child of Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar - who have since gone on to explain how the European migrant crisis, as well as Brexit were highly influential to the work. Friese told Deadline Hollywood: "The whole European angle was very important for us, not only story-wise but also the way we were going to produce it.
"It really had to be a European collaboration, not just cast but also crew. We felt that with the past years of Europe being on the decline, we wanted to give a counterpoint to Brexit, and to nationalism rising in different countries, to go back to that idea of Europe and Europeans working and creating together.
"Being true to the cultures and the languages was really important, we never wanted to have characters from different countries but everyone speaks English. 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 behaviour."
The staff writing team itself compiled of a number of writers from different nationalities, with the show including a highly diverse and multicultural cast. Miguel Bernardeau stars as Ángel, a wealthy Spaniard, with Maciej Musiał as Olek, a Polish stoker.
Mathilde Ollivier plays Clémence, a young woman from the Paris elite, with Isabella Wei as Ling Yi, a mysterious young woman from China.
The 2015 European migrant crisis, known as the Syrian refugee crisis, saw a significantly increased movement of refugees in Europe when 1.3million people came to the continent to request asylum. Although they were mostly Syrians, there was a number of people from Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iraq and the Balkans.
The vast majority of refugees reached Europe by crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece. In the Netflix series, all of the migrants have something to hide, meaning everyone has their guard up. They are either pretending to be someone they are not, or they are running away from something.
1899 was first announced during the European migrant crisis when displaced people were seeking safety from conflicts and other hardships. The series is shot entirely multilingual, with each actor speaking their native tongue throughout.
Friese added: "We just had a reading, partly on zoom, partly with actors who are here [in Germany], and 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.”
The series, from the creators of Dark, is expected to be a multi-season show, providing it gets the viewership ratings.
However, it may be some time before the story continues as Friese simply said: "There's always a possibility."
1899 launched on Netflix on November 17.
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