Who is Daniel in 1899 and where did he come from?

Get ready for a great mystery because 1899 is now streaming on Netflix. The eight-episode series is multilingual and features an ensemble cast of characters from all over, traveling from Europe to America to start new lives. As the show progresses, we learn more and more about each passenger and what their motivations are. Many of them are hiding secrets and need to get to their destination to start over. But that proves to be difficult when they find another steamship in the middle of the ocean called the Prometheus, which had been reported missing for four months.

The first episode of 1899 does a great job of setting up the central plot and introducing us to the many characters. We even make it on the Prometheus in the premiere, which only leaves more questions than answers when we see what’s left of the ship.

MAJOR spoilers ahead for 1899 on Netflix.

The central characters of 1899 worth paying the most attention to are Maura Franklin (Emily Beecham), a woman traveling alone looking for her missing brother who she believes might’ve been on the Prometheus, the Kerberos ship captain Eyk Larsen (Andreas Pietschmann), who lost his wife and daughters in a house fire, and a mysterious man named Daniel (Aneurin Barnard) who shows up at the end of episode 1. He’s introduced as a dark figure who jumps up on the Kerberos and acts like one of the passengers, but he has ulterior motives that we find out toward the end of the series.

When Daniel and Maura first encounter each other on the boat, Maura mentions he looks familiar but they don’t ever really introduce themselves. Daniel knows who Maura is, but he remains a mystery to us viewers. We see him lurking around the ship and even carrying a suspicious green beetle which he releases under rooms. In one scene, we even see he has a photo of Maura he’s been staring at.

Who is Daniel from 1899 and is he really Maura’s husband?

While Maura and Eyk are investigating through the hatch in her room, Daniel shows up and reveals that he knows more than he’s let on. On top of that, he says he and Maura were married 12 years ago! Maura has no idea what he’s talking about, but he suggests her memory has been wiped somehow, saying she must remember.

As we learn in the final two episodes of 1899, the whole thing is actually a simulation. Nothing they’re experiencing, including both the Prometheus and the Kerberos, is real. Maura and Daniel created the simulation so that they could keep their dying son, the mysterious little boy named Elliot (Fflyn Edwards), alive. But because Maura no longer has all of her memories, she simply doesn’t remember any of it. Daniel fills her in and says her brother has taken control of the simulation, but they want it to end. Each loop lasts eight days, and they don’t have much time left to get back to reality.

Daniel ends up hacking the mainframe of the simulation and reprogramming everything so regains power and can return to reality. Before he does this, Maura asks if he’ll be there when she wakes up, and he says he always will be. He ends the simulation and Maura wakes up in a spaceship in the year 2099. Though Daniel is not there, she receives a message from her brother that says “welcome to reality.” Maura must now grapple with her new surroundings and figure out what to do next now that neither Daniel nor Elliot are with her.

But that’s how 1899 ends, so we don’t know what she’ll do next. Fingers crossed 1899 is renewed for a second season so we can continue on with this twisty and awesome journey.

You can stream 1899 on Netflix right now!