Who Is Maura Franklin in 1899 & Is She a Real Person?

At the very beginning of Netflix’s new series called 1899, it was already made clear that the main character of the storyline was Maura Franklin, who was the focus of the series during much of what was actually a pretty confusing yet enjoyable ride. Of course, there were a lot of events that had Maura at the center of it all, and the ending of the first season even shows that she is much more than the person that she thought she was. So, who was Maura Franklin in 1899?

Maura Franklin initially introduced herself as a female doctor that was one of the first women to study medicine in England. However, she was actually a doctor that specialized in creating a simulated world during the year 2099, as she was the one who was responsible for creating the simulation everyone was trapped in.

The thing about Maura was that she didn’t even know who she was during the entire series, as the only things that she knew were bits and pieces of her past. That’s because a good part of her memory was altered at her behest, as she wanted to forget a few of her past memories. Now, with that said, let’s look at what we know about Maura Franklin in 1899.

Who Is Maura Franklin In 1899?

Netflix’s 1899 series may appear to be a story that focuses on an ensemble cast of different characters that all have their own parts and roles to play in this greater storyline. However, the truth is that a good chunk of the series is all about Maura Franklin’s story. In fact, the series wasted no time in introducing her as the main character as the story zeroed in on her during the first few scenes of the first episode. But who exactly was Maura Franklin in 1899?

During the opening scenes of 1899, Maura introduced herself as a doctor. In fact, she was one of the first women to be allowed to study medicine in England during the 19^th century. She specializes in the study of the brain as she is fascinated by how the brain is much smaller than the world but is able to contain an entire universe in it. But because she lived during a time when society was still patriarchal, Maura Franklin struggled in her practice as a doctor as she was only allowed to study medicine but not necessarily practice it.

Early in the series, Maura displayed her keen sense of suspicion when she was able to notice that there were mysterious things happening on the Kerberos, which is the steamship she was on as she was on her way to America. She actually accompanied Captain Eyk and a few other members of the crew to get to the Prometheus, which was a ship that had been missing for four months. And that was when things started to become weird, as Maura was clearly invested in what had happened to the Prometheus and its passengers and crew.

As both Maura and Eyk uncovered some of the mysteries surrounding the Prometheus and the things that were happening to them and the crew of the Kerberos, that was when her past started to catch up with her. She admitted that her real name was Maura Singleton and that she was the daughter of the man that owned both the Prometheus and the Kerberos.

Maura said that she got on the Kerberos in an attempt to find out the truth behind what happened to her brother. That’s because, according to bits and pieces of her memory, she was placed in a psychiatric institution by her own father to alter her memories because she believed that her father, Henry, was responsible for the disappearance of her brother. She believed he was on the Prometheus when it left Europe. In that regard, she thought that Henry had erased her memories because she knew what he had done to her brother.

Things, however, weren’t as simple as that. That’s because it was revealed that there were worlds within this bigger world, and all of these worlds could be accessed using the pyramid that the mysterious boy that they found on the Prometheus had. And when Maura met Daniel, that was when she began to question what was real and what was false.

The Truth Behind Maura Franklin

While Maura did believe that she was a doctor that lived in the 19^th century and was a woman that was no longer capable of giving birth, things weren’t exactly what they seemed to be. That’s because Daniel revealed that he was her husband of 12 years, and that was what made Maura question her entire memory, as she had no memory of him.

Moreover, Daniel also revealed that the boy with the pyramid was their son, Elliot, as Maura has no memories of him at all and couldn’t even remember giving birth to him. As such, this made her question what was real and what was not. To top things off, Daniel told her that nothing was real in this world because it was all a simulation.

The simulation of the ships was something that her father created because he wanted Maura to remember where she hid the key that was supposed to be used for the pyramid. That’s because the pyramid was what would allow a person to finally leave the simulation and return to the real world. So, while Henry appeared to be the main antagonist by creating the simulation, he was not the one behind all of the simulations.

It was revealed near the end of the first season of 1899 that the simulations were all created by Maura, who was dubbed the Creator of that world. She was the one behind everything, as she was also the one who made herself forget all about her husband and son. And it was the fact that Elliot was dying that made her want to forget how painful the real world was.

As such, everything in that simulated world was a product of Maura, who was always fascinated by worlds within worlds after Plato’s Allegory of the Cave caught her interest when she was just a young girl. The simulation itself was the product of her study of the brain, as she was able to develop an entirely new world that existed from within the minds of the people who were in the simulation itself.

Is Maura Franklin A Real Person?

Maura Franklin is, in fact, not a real person as far as our reality is concerned. That’s because 1899 isn’t even based on a historical event that happened in real life. And this is due to the fact that this series takes place in a different timeline, as it was suggested in the final scene that it happens in 2099 instead of 1899.

The possibility that the series takes place in 2099 is the reason why there are plenty of advanced technologies employed by Henry and Daniel while they were in the simulation, as they had devices that allowed them to have an influence over what was happening in this simulated world.

Of course, while we aren’t sure if that was indeed the real world, the 2099 version of the series takes place inside a spaceship that was carrying people that were sleeping in machines that were quite possibly controlling the simulation. As such, it is possible that Maura developed the simulated world to allow the people to keep living inside that simulation while they were on a long voyage to a distant planet that may be years or decades away from Earth.