I must say, I respect the tenacity of Manifest creator, Jeff Rake. Ever since the series was canceled by NBC after three seasons and then not given a second home at Netflix, despite placing No. 1 since its first two seasons hit the platform, Rake has been working hard to give Manifest fans the conclusion they deserve. Manifest had a six-season plan in place but Rake is looking to pivot from that with a 2-hour movie that will give fans the closure they seek.
According to a report by "Entertainment Weekly", Rake is looking into a 2-hour style finale to properly wrap up the show. While he intended for the show to have six seasons, with the 4th, 5th, and 6th season serving as the climactic half of the series, Rake has ideas to cut back the story and produce a 2-hour ending on a modest budget. He's hopeful he'll be able to find an avenue to stream or broadcast that conclusion as well. Here is what he had to say:
"Twenty days after we've premiered on Netflix, I've kind of moved away from the plan of finding a home for seasons 4, 5, and 6 of Manifest, even though I've always talked about Manifest being a six-season show. Back in the day, I laid out a six-season roadmap for NBC, and I'm halfway through. I had giant cliffhangers in the season 3 finale, so I had every intention to have three more seasons to slow-burn the back half of the story. I'm reading the writing on the wall that we may not find a home for three more seasons of the show, so I moved to plan B: Some platform would bankroll a feature or a movie finale, like we saw with Timeless, Firefly, and Deadwood. I just need a modest budget to tell the story. I am personally sketching out how to consolidate the back half of the series into a much more streamlined, cut-to-the-chase two-hour finale that would distill all of the hanging chads of the series. That's where my head is at. There is a huge appetite for people wanting to know what's that end of the story, what happened to the passengers, what ultimately happened to that airplane."
It's commonplace for shows to get abruptly canceled before concluding their intended stories but we have so many more avenues now to give proper closure and I respect Rake for exhausting all of the possibilities to get this done. Manifest fans are loud and proud and I hope he can get this done for them. #SaveManifest campaigns are still going strong on social media and it's clear that there is an audience out there that will watch how this all wraps up.
Manifest focuses on Montego Air Flight 828, which landed safely after a turbulent but routine flight. The crew and passengers are relieved to be safe but in the span of those few hours, the world had aged five years and their friends, families, and colleagues, after mourning their loss, had given up hope and moved on. Now, faced with the impossible, they're all given a second chance. But as their new realities become clear, a deeper mystery unfolds, and some of the returned passengers soon realize they might be meant for something greater than they ever thought possible. The series stars Josh Dallas, Jack Messina, Athena Karkanis, Melissa Roxburgh, JR Ramirez, Luna Blaise, Parveen Kaur, and Matt Long.
Do YOU think a 2-hour finale movie will be enough to properly wrap up Manifest?