Since Manifest wrapped up its third season in June 2021, the show left viewers with questions and some nail-biting drama in the season finale. But shortly after season three ended, NBC announced that they wouldn’t be renewing the series for a fourth season. The uproar by the show’s die-hard fans led them to start an online petition to bring it back. And something that rarely happens to TV shows happened to Manifest when the network announced that they renewed it for one last season.

In a nutshell, Manifest tells the story of a commercial airliner, Flight 828, which went missing a few hours into its journey and reappeared with all the crew and passengers more than five years later after they were presumed dead. For all the people in the aircraft, the jump in time was represented by some turbulence. As soon as they step back into their regular lives, they all realize that a lot has changed since they’ve been gone. What makes things even stranger is that the returned passengers and crew begin to hear voices in their heads and have premonitions about events that haven’t even happened.

Through its three seasons, Manifest managed to keep its audiences hooked with all the drama, twists, and turns. And now that the fourth season is officially on its way, here's all we know!

Updated July 2022 by Jessica Peerez: If you love Manifest, you'll be happy to know we've updated this article with additional info surrounding the upcoming season.

Season 4: The Plot

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Universal Television

The season 3 finale of Manifest had several cliffhangers that will have a significant impact on the storyline in the final season.

First was Jared (J.R. Ramirez) knowing about Saanvi (Parveen Kaur) and her involvement in the death of The Major (Elizabeth Marvel), Sarah’s (Lauren Norvelle) mother. We also saw Angelina (Holly Taylor) run off with Grace (Athena Karkanis) after killing Eden. At the same time, both Randall (Christopher Piccione) and Eagan (Ali Lopez-Sohaili) were arrested and taken away. Meanwhile, Cal (Jack Messina) disappeared into thin air after touching Flight 828’s tail.

Related: Manifest Season 4: Questions We Hope to See Answered

There was also the sudden reappearance and disappearance of Captain Daly (Frank Deal). When asked about Captain Daly, show creator Jeff Rake told TV Insider,

"Whether it's purgatory, whether it's the netherworld, these are terms and concepts that Ben and others will struggle to understand. Let's put it this way: Captain Daly has been exactly where the passengers as a group were for those five and a half years. Captain Daly has been exactly where Cal was from the end of Episode 312 when he disappears to when he returns right there at the very end of the season finale. What that place is, I'm going let Cal speak to that when we come back in season four."

The final season will explore the ramifications of all these stories and much more. Rake still feels good about where the show stands, despite not securing the six seasons he originally envisioned. "The endgame won't change at all," he told EW. "I am absolutely confident that 20 episodes gives me enough time to tell the entirety of the story as I always intended to."

"From the beginning, before I even signed on, I told Jeff [Rake] that I didn’t want to know," Josh Dallas once told Collider regarding the plot's direction as the show progressed:

"I didn’t want to know what the mystery was because I wanted to discover it along with Ben and the audience, as we go along. I’m a little ahead of you because we’re a few episodes ahead in the season, but I’m still discovering it, as I get each script, which is part of the fun. I don’t think it’s always necessary, but for this project and for me, in particular, I didn’t want to know anything. I’m gonna to get the WTF moments and the OMG moments along with all of you guys."

Season 4: The Cast

manifest
Universal Television

Series leads Melissa Roxburgh, who plays Michaela Stone, and Josh Dallas, who plays Ben Stone, have closed deals for the final season and are expected to be joined by J.R. Ramirez. Parveen Kaur, Jack Messina, and Luna Blaise, who plays Olive Stone, are still in contract negotiations, and Matt Long, who plays Zeke Landon.

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Long's future on the show is currently up in the air because of a potential schedule clash as he is currently working on the NBC drama Getaway. Long told Deadline:

"I will be back for some of it. We're just trying to find out the maximum I can do. I love the character in the show so much, but as you know, when the show was canceled, I booked another show. It was a pilot. We don't know what's happening with it yet. It's also a really awesome project. So we're just trying to work out schedules. Everybody wants the best thing for everyone, so fingers crossed it all works out for the best."

Release Date

Dallas-cast-Manifest-2018-Universal
Universal Television

Thanks to its stellar performance on Netflix and the fans’ online petitions to save the show, the streamer announced back in August 2021 that Manifest's fourth and final season would stream. The fourth season will consist of 20 episodes but will not be dropped on the streaming service all at once. Instead, it will be split into two or more parts. Manifest is set to air this fall. Fans speculate that at least the first part of the show may release on August 28, 2022, as a tribute to Manifest's Flight 828.

Although no concrete release date for the series has been set, for now, executive producer Jeff Rake teased the possibility of a trailer. He took to Twitter in early June to say:

"How about that trailer, Manifesters? Finally a nibble.

Hang in there!"

Rake also replied to a comment by Stephen King on Twitter on June 15, 2022, saying he would try to get King a "premiere date asap." Given Rake's tweets, in addition to the fact that Luna Blaise tweeted in May that the Manifest "hiatus is almost over," there is a high probability that we'll see at least part of the fourth season this year.