Megan Vineberg – Staff Writer
Having watched the first few seasons of Manifest, you’ll notice a pattern. Each is ended on a cliff-hanger, and that’s all I’ll say so as not to provide any spoilers. Manifest is a sci-fi drama rooted in mystery. The show initially premiered in 2018 about a group of flight passengers who boarded a plane to have safely landed in New York. They notice upon arrival that 5 years had passed since they’ve returned, and the world has aged. The pilot, passengers, and flight crew were presumed to have been dead at that point. Making the return to their individual lives, they find nothing is as they left it.
NBC liked the show enough to pick up the pilot episode. Cosmopolitan reports that the show was at the very top of the Netflix Top 10 to watch, with more and more people binging the series. Manifest quickly went from a measly pilot episode into a three-season success story. Many questions left unanswered, the show was unexpectedly cancelled due to cast contracts expiring soon thereafter. Desperate to find a new home for the series, Manifest was then picked up by Netflix and Hulu (albeit split between the two). Season 4 of the show was said to be wrapped up instead into a movie, or aired on another station, according to show creator Jake Rake.
Regarding the recent cancellation, fans of the show demanded answers. Rake responded, “My dear Manifesters, I’m devastated by NBC’s decision to cancel us. That we’ve been shut down in the middle is a gut punch to say the least. Hoping to find a new home. You, the fans, deserve an ending to your story. Thanks for the love shown to me, cast, and crew. #savemanifest.”
Manifest was originally added to Netflix in June. Now available for streaming are the first three seasons of the show, which is at the Top 3 Spot in the U.S. at the time of this article being written. Following along with the trajectory of previous NBC hits, we may see a season 4 premiere date by April of next year at the earliest. For certain NBC shows, it’s become practice for them to be added to Netflix exactly one year after their initial release. If Manifest gets picked up, the release date on season 4 could be even sooner.
It’s been said that as of July this year, NBC is in talks with those at Warner Bros. Studios to revive the series. Dateline reports that negotiations have begun for cast and writers, but deals are yet to be finalized. It’s very much likely that the season will don 13 episodes, although Netflix is known to feature between 8 and 10 episodes. Giving the fans enough time to catch up on the series, it seems a spring date is likely. While the show’s entire mystery seems to be wrapped up in Season 4, the #SaveManifest hashtag is a regularly trending topic on Twitter, with cast such as Josh Dallas (who plays Ben Stone) tweeting out his support for fans of the show.
Rake initially sold the concept of Manifest to NBC for six seasons that were already planned for. Rake went on to reveal this: “A season 4 of Manifest for Ben is absolutely centered around processing, digesting, coming to terms with such a loss, and then trying to find a way to seek vengeance, to kind of justify the act in terms of finding some meaning out of it. He is going to have a lot to deal with — whether or not he keeps that sort of dark edge that’s been creeping into him into season 4. I don’t know if he’s going to handle all of those things within the letter of the law.” Rake also tweeted in support of the beloved series, “No news yet, folks. But I’m back in the place where it happens. And I’m ready. I’m not giving up. Keep the faith. #SaveManifest.”
