Is 'The Terror' a true story? Find out about Franklin's lost expedition to Arctic

The Terror is an American horror drama anthology television series that premiered on March 25, 2018, on AMC. The series is named after Dan Simmons’s 2007 novel of the same name which serves the basis of the first season. The Terror plot revolves around an expedition to the Arctic in the middle of the 19th Century led by Captain Sir John Franklin and Francis Crozier, on the two ships, the Erebus and the Terror, embarked on the doomed voyage in 1845. Ever since its release, viewers are curious about the true story of The Terror, and asking if it is based on real-life events or is entirely fiction, Let's find out-

Is The Terror a true story?

While much of the series is fiction, an equal amount is facts. According to South China Morning Post,  the expedition did happen that consisted of the two boats- Terror and Erebus, and it was Franklin's third and final expedition to the Northwest Passage. The expedition was led by Franklin on Erebus and the second in command was Irishman Francis Crozier and the two boats set sail from the UK in 1845. The 129 men on the boats never came back and the boats were last seen entering the Northwest Passage north of Baffin Island.

The premise of the ships being stuck in ice in the series was actually true. The British sent several ships to locate Franklin and on Scotsman John Rae’s third expedition in 1854, he obtained information from the local Inuit communities. They reported that both the boats became icebound off King William Island and were eventually crushed and sunk. The crew went south by foot and died on the way and according to a note that was found later, Franklin was said to have died on board Erebus in 1847 before they went by foot.

The villain in the series was a Tunnbaq, a mystic polar bear-type creature that threatens their lives, did not exist in real life. However, other expeditions show the possibility of actual polar bears attacking them. The series showed an Inuit woman brought aboard and questioned about Tunnbaq, but there is no way to prove that this happened on Franklin’s expedition. However, Innuit communities are real. They have lived long in the Northwest Passage, centuries before Europe contemplated its existence and they were often invited aboard and traded with.

The Terror review and cast

Both the seasons of The Terror received positive reviews by the critics and the series has an IMDb rating of 8.2 at present. The series earned several award nominations and won the 'Best Television Series- Genre' award at the 2019 Satellite Awards. The series cast includes Ciaran Hinds, Jared Harris, Tobias Menzies, Paul Ready, Adam Nagaitis, Ian Hart, Derek Mio, Kiki Sukezane, and many others.

Promo Image Source: Still from The Terror trailer