Is The Terror Season 1 Based on a True Story?

AMC’s The Terror tells a bleak story about an arctic expedition that goes very, very wrong. And while it’s a historical drama, did the events of the show really happen? Is The Terror Season 1 based on a true story?

Is AMC’s The Terror a True Story?

AMC’s The Terror is largely based on a true story. The 1845 Arctic expedition seen in the show did happen. The two polar explorer ships, the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, did get stuck in the ice, and every single person in that expedition died or disappeared, presumed dead.

129 men perished, many in some horrible, horrible ways: starvation, hypothermia, poisoning and more. And there was evidence that some of the sailors had practiced cannibalism (via Royal Museums Greenwich), though it didn’t save them. And, as in the show, some of the food spoiled, which exacerbated the situation.

Related: Is Netflix’s The Accident Based on A True Story?

Are the Deaths in The Terror Based on Real Life?

Spoilers for The Terror Season 1 below.

In the show, expedition leader Sir John Franklin was mauled by a giant supernatural polar bear and flung into a hole to drown. That’s pure fiction, and not just because the show introduces supernatural elements.

The ship’s logs have not been recovered, so we don’t know precisely what occurred on board. The Terror Season 1 shows them being filled in, but while both ships were eventually found in 2014, the logs remain lost. Could Captain Francis Crozier have survived to live amongst the Inuit? It’s possible, but there’s zero evidence it actually happened.

So, the answer to Is The Terror Season 1 based on a true story is yes, it is. Every member of the lost Franklin expedition died after the ships became stuck in the ice. But with no precise logs ever recovered, the show takes what we know about the expedition and fills in the gaps with fiction.

The Terror is available to watch now.