Manifest May Be Cancelled, But The Story Will Be Finished
Manifest is over, but the story isn't.
This article is more than 2 years old
Just a week after various networks and streaming services declined to save Manifest, series creator Jeff Rake has promised fans an end to the story. He just needs some time to figure things out. The supernatural drama series was canceled by NBC on June 15th after only three seasons.
Rake was devastated by the news and spent a week trying to find Manifest a new home. Unfortunately, everyone passed on the opportunity because streaming sites don’t really rescue discarded network shows anymore. Despite the latest setback, Rake told fans via social media that he’s still determined to properly conclude the series.
The first season of Manifest debuted on September 24, 2018, on NBC and was billed as a supernatural drama. The story begins when Montego Air Flight 828 from Jamaica to New York City experiences a brief period of severe turbulence. But when the plane lands at Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, New York, the 191 passengers and crew learn from NSA director Robert Vance that five years have passed while they were in the air, during which time they were presumed dead.
As they rejoin society, the passengers begin to realize that their lives and loved ones have changed. To further complicate things, they also begin to experience strange guiding voices and visions representing future events, referred to as callings.
Manifest featured an ensemble cast that showcased the talents of Melissa Roxburgh as Michaela Stone, Josh Dallas as Ben Stone, Athena Karkanis as Grace Stone, J. R. Ramirez as Jared Vasquez, Luna Blaise as Olive Stone, Jack Messina as Cal Stone, Parveen Kaur as Saanvi Bahl, and Matt Long as Zeke Landon. Holly Taylor also joined the cast as Angelina Meyer in the third season.
With no place to land, Manifest’s plot has been left on a cliffhanger much to the disappointment of Jeff Rake who wasn’t ready to end the show yet. During an interview on Twitter Spaces, Rake said he had originally pitched TV executives a story that spanned five seasons with a “big ending in season six.”
Rake also expressed his desire to finish the story in a way that honors the story that’s been told so far. He feels that it’s only fitting because so much love, care, precision, money, and effort went into the first three seasons of Manifest, that simply blurting out the rest of the story in an article (or in a series of tweets) is not something he would ever do. Rake explained that it would be a let-down just because it’s not just that people want to know the ending but it’s that people want to experience the ending.
Ironically, Manifest is currently at the top of Netflix’s “which shows people are watching the most list” (via TV Guide). The canceled show was back at the number one spot on Tuesday, (June 29th), bumping the new Liam Neeson thriller The Ice Road down to number two.
