After the extremely emotional and breathtaking finale of the first part of Manifest final season, we are ready to find out more about the last episodes of the Netflix mystery drama. Let’s take a look at everything we know about Manifest Season 4B!
Plot and Details
In the aftermath of Angelina unleashing a devastating volcanic fissure, the passengers face severe scrutiny in a world fueled by 828er hate, no longer free to solve their own Callings without constant supervision by the unscrupulous 828 Registry. A mysterious accident delivers ominous warnings on a biblical scale that will further jeopardize the livelihood of all the passengers. As Michaela grieves the loss of her beloved husband Zeke, she must team up with her old flame Jared to find new methods to investigate Callings.
Meanwhile, Ben and Saanvi attempt to collaborate with the Registry authorities, which only leads to dire results for the passengers. Miraculously, a mythological event reactivates Cal’s sapphire-laden dragon scar, offering a glimmer of hope for the 828ers to survive the rapidly approaching Death Date. But Angelina’s nefarious sapphire powers continue to wreak havoc, leading to a struggle between good and evil down to their very last day in this most terrifying, suspenseful and joyous chapter of the Manifest story.
Josh Dallas Talks Potential Ben and Saanvi Romance in Final Episodes, the Fallout From That Death
Part 1 of Manifest‘s fourth and final season ended with one of the most devastating TV deaths of the year.
Zeke, overhearing Olive and TJ discuss how essential Cal was to saving humanity, took matters in his own hands. As Cal lay on his deathbed, the empath used his powers to — SPOILER ALERT — absorb Cal’s leukemia, sparing the teen’s life and sacrificing his own in the process. And while a weeping Ben held his son, grateful that he was still alive, Michaela mourned her now-deceased husband at the edge of the bed.
Josh Dallas, who plays Ben, tells TVLine that Zeke’s death will only bring the Stones closer together as they work through their grief. “Once we see Part 2 of Manifest’s [final season], there’s going to be a reason why they may be separated for a bit of time,” he shares. “But I think it’s going to bond them closer together. It will be a level of grief that Ben will understand and will try to help guide his sister out of, but he also knows that she needs to deal with it in her own way as he did.”
With 10 more episodes left in the series, the actor teases “more twists and turns” to come, and ultimately, “where our characters end up is going to be surprising.”
Some of that uncertainty stems from how the 828 passengers will handle Angelina. Who in the finale absorbed the sapphire and emerged from the church looking like doomsday personified.
“I think she is fully capable of sinking the Lifeboat and will try her hardest,” Dallas notes. “For Ben, and for the rest of the Stone family, I think there is an element of trying to understand Angelina’s darkness to understand their own goodness and understand where her motivation and anger comes from. Ben tries to do that to figure out his own place in this story. She is fully capable, and a big, big threat to not only the Stone family but to the world now.”
The 828ers might be facing end-of-the-world stakes, but there’s at least one silver lining: You’ll get to see more of the old Ben. The widower spent the first half of Season 4 grappling with the pain of Grace’s murder and Eden’s shocking abduction. With his missing daughter now returned and his son presumably cured of his illness, the grieving dad just may get his groove back.
“As we go forward in the story, you start to see the old Ben come back more. Although changed from this journey that he’s gone on,” Dallas teases. “I think his heart does start to open.”
So does that mean a Saanvi and Ben romance is on the way?
“They’re very similar in many, many ways. They have a connection and a deep friendship and a deep love and a deep respect for each other,” the actor says. “They’re two lonely people, and we’ll see where that goes. I think they’re both desperate for a connection, whether that’s with each other or with anything. Or to have a connection that’s outside of what’s happening. I think they’re both really yearning for that.”
The wait for Manifest‘s final episodes is killing us. Anything to tide fans over?
This may not tide you over so much as tease you good, but…. On the final day of filming, one of the original cast members was surprised to be handed a big ol’ monologue that wasn’t in the original script, which plays over the supernatural-tinged family drama’s emotional closing moments. (And by all accounts, said cast member crushed it with the last-minute assignment.)
Manifest creator says series finale is ‘the most ambitious episode we have ever shot’
At the risk of going too Biblical, the end is nigh on Manifest. But that’s a good thing for series creator Jeff Rake and star Melissa Roxburgh.
They didn’t initially think they would ever see the day when they could conclude the story. Fans have all heard this before: NBC canceled the drama in 2021 after three seasons, cutting Rake’s six-season plan short. Then Netflix saved the show for one final run of 20 episodes (split into two 10-episode parts), thanks to an aggressive show of force from the Manifest hive. Rake and his cast are now finally getting their big finish when the series returns to Netflix this June 2.
“That finale that’s coming up, [episode] 420, that’s hands down the most ambitious episode we have ever shot,” Rake tells EW in April with the entire finale already shot and edited. “I don’t want to oversell, but I think you’ll agree when you see it that that even surpasses what you saw in 410 — and you’ll probably say ‘by a long shot.'” Considering the finale to season 4, Part 1 ended with a literal hellscape, complete with earthquakes and rivers of fire, that’s saying something.
“I really wanted to know the end of the story myself,” says Roxburgh.
She stars on Manifest as Michaela Stone, one of the passengers of Flight 828, which mysteriously vanished in a supernatural event midair, only to safely land five years in the future as if nothing had happened. “My original theory in season 1 was that the government had found a way to mind control. Like, they were all experiments essentially. That was definitely wrong.”
Rake understands if viewers perceive these last 10 episodes almost as a fifth season. He agrees there’s a “standalone” quality to this arc. Ever since Angelina (Holly Taylor) essentially became a herald of the apocalypse, creating a catastrophic volcanic fissure with her Omega Sapphire powers, the 828ers are now under constant surveillance by a government registry. Plus, they are closer than ever to June 2, 2024, which is the Death Date — the moment when Michaela, her brother Ben (Josh Dallas), scientist Saanvi (Parveen Kaur), and the other passengers believe they will face their second death.
If that weren’t enough, Michaela is still grieving the loss of her husband, Zeke (Matt Long), who died during the events of the midseason finale.
She doesn’t fall down the same hole as Ben, who grew a “grief beard” and went full rebel-on-a-mission after the loss of his wife, but Roxburgh says “she kind of shuts down.”
“She’s a lot more ‘eh’ toward things,” the actress explains. “She’s not apathetic, she’s drained, she’s fried. She hasn’t given up on on anything, but her attention is on the plane stuff, the mystery, to get her mind off of the pain that she keeps pushing away.” Rake already teased to EW that Long could be back for the back-half of season 4, noting “the powerful bond” between him and Michaela. So that loss, it would seem, will be difficult for her to ignore.
“While Part 1 [of season 4] was very much focused on the Stone family trying to heal, trying to put their family literally back together, the final 10 figuratively and literally focus more on the collective of the passengers,” Rake teases. “Ultimately, Michaela and Ben’s role within this mythology was to lead the flock, to figure out why they’re back, what their mission is. The series is going to end as it began. That is to say with Ben and Michaela leading the passengers, hopefully, to their survival.”
Roxburgh calls the last 10 episodes “quite large,” noting how it took the crew “a lot longer than normal” to film the entirety of the finale.
“Jeff had this six-year vision for the show, and so you can’t not go out with a bang, especially after everything that’s happened,” she adds, reflecting on the show’s tumultuous journey. “Just knowing that it is the end, it’s gonna feel climactic.”
Manifest Boss Says Series Finale Will ‘Resolve Every Open-Ended Question’
The turbulent ride for the survivors of Flight 828 — the commercial airliner that mysteriously vanished for five and a half years before reappearing — is closely matched by Manifest ’s own miraculous journey.
The thrilling drama began on NBC in 2018 but, post-cancellation in 2021, jumped to Netflix, finding new life and surprising popularity. Part 1 of its swan-song season aired last November, and now “our final 10 [episodes] will wrap up the story the way I originally envisioned, with all the points I always wanted to hit,” says executive producer Jeff Rake.
After an eight-month time jump during the first episode, resolution is on the flight path. “We’ve been keeping a running laundry list in the writers’ room, and it’s our goal to resolve every open-ended question,” Rake says. To that end, “There are core moments in the final 10 episodes that hopefully will help fans understand the how and why of [everything].”
On the way, expect to see past familiar faces as we reach (and hopefully stop) the mysterious and long-feared death date for the Flight 828 passengers.
However, a huge obstacle for heroic Ben Stone (Josh Dallas) and his fellow survivors is the Registry; this shadowy government agency set up to keep track of the passengers is also making it challenging for them to pursue their callings — the cryptic messages they are called to act upon.
Also, keep an eye on Ben’s young son Cal (Ty Doran), a key Manifest puzzle piece. “Cal’s interaction with the overall series mythology will tie [things] together in vital ways,” says Rake. But first they must defeat villainous Angelina (Holly Taylor), who aims to push the Flight 828 folks toward that death date. So, expect a lot of bumps!
Josh Dallas Talks “Manifest”‘s Finale and Its Future
Josh Dallas is picking up the baton and spoke to THR about Manifest‘s marquee ending and the state of episodic television going forward.
What was your reaction to the plot of the show’s final episode?
I had a deal with Jeff from the very beginning that I didn’t want to know how it was going to end, so when we did the final table read, I was in tears the whole time. It’s twofold, right? It’s bittersweet because we’re saying goodbye to these characters and this world, and also to the TV family we’ve created, the crew and everyone we’ve worked with for the past five years. It was charged. But as far as the ending, Jeff has known how he wanted to end this story since the very beginning.
What kind of emotional resolution did you want for your character?
I wanted him to learn from his experience and be able to do things over again with a new perspective. If there was a sequel after the final scene, I hope he would go forward armed with knowledge and tools to take life as a gift.
So you envision a scenario in which there’s a reboot or sequel? Maybe like a “flash sideways” on Lost?
I think there’s major sequel or spinoff potential here. Maybe we go into the future and see Eden [his character’s daughter] at 21 or so as she’s navigating the world, or we follow the younger passengers. Maybe we go back to 2013 and deep dive into the investigation with [NSA director] Vance.
If you look at the TV landscape today compared with 2011, when you started on Once Upon a Time, could you have imagined booking another show with 100-plus episodes?
I have been extremely lucky so far when it comes to that. I definitely think that the days of shows running for five or seven seasons are going away, and there are pluses and minuses to that. It’s a great shame that we’re losing the longevity that doesn’t exist in other mediums, to be able to explore the evolution of a character and a story. On the other hand, shorter seasons allow storytelling to be concise and exciting.
Is there anything to be replicated from the process of Manifest being canceled by NBC and picked up by Netflix?
Honestly, I don’t think there’s much you can do beyond trying to make the best thing you possibly can and hope it connects with people. Once Upon a Time and Manifest are similar in terms of their genre-leaning audiences, always the greatest TV watchers because they’re so passionate about their shows. It is a huge part of why we came back. I wish there was a formula. If anyone knows it, please put in the comments below. (Laughs.)
Do you feel extra pressure to promote the show while Jeff Rake is on strike?
There’s certainly a feeling of responsibility because I want to do right by Jeff and celebrate the show in the way it deserves, but at the same time I want to support Jeff and all our writers in their negotiations and what they’re going through. There’s no pressure, though, only joy and gratefulness when I talk about it. If I mess anything up, we’ll have to call him after the strike.
Melissa Roxburgh on Whether Michaela Will Move on With Jared
The good news is that Manifest returns with the remaining 10 episodes of Season 4 this Friday on Netflix. The bad news? Michaela Stone, co-captain of the lifeboat, will be going through it emotionally.
After Zeke’s tragic death in Season 4 Part 1, upcoming episodes find her struggling with the loss of her late husband as the passengers gear up for the impending Death Date (and the potential end of the world).
“She’s got a scene with Ben [in Part 2] where she basically tells him, finally, why she’s been quiet and just in her own world,” Melissa Roxburgh, who plays Michaela, tells TVLine. “[Zeke] was her only person that understood on a romantic level. She’s got Jared, but he doesn’t get the sci-fi aspect of everything she’s been going through, so she really lost her counterpart. Ben’s got his own stuff going on, and as much of a good brother as he is, it was her and Zeke, so she’s really struggling.”
Part of that struggle will be figuring out where Jared fits into the equation. Showrunner Jeff Rake teased back in November that Jared will have been “respectful” of Michaela’s grief in the coming months. But with Zeke gone, does that set the stage for them to rekindle their pre-Flight 828 romance?
“I think it’s always going to be a will-they-won’t-they [situation] until the end of the show where we get that answer,” Roxburgh teases. “I think that now that Zeke’s out of the picture — [Jared] has always been her best friend — there’s that natural inclination to fall back into things. Who knows if she’s ready or not, and whether or not it will happen? But I think it’s inevitable that something’s on the table.”
Promotional pictures
Release Date
Netflix announced on Friday that Season 4, Part 2 — which contains the remaining 10 episodes of the supernatural drama — will arrive on Friday, June 2. (That’s one year shy of the show’s June 2, 2024 Death Date.)
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Chiara
Source: TV Line / EW
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