Netflix dominated the Nielsen streaming top 10 chart at the beginning of November, with all ten places taken up by the platform. Top of the pile was Manifest, which dropped the first part of its fourth and final season on Nov. 4. While the weekly figures are only up to Nov. 6, that was still enough time for Manifest to log 1.37 billion minutes viewed and just managed to stay ahead of returning dating drama Love Is Blind.
Manifest’s dominance of the chart is not surprising, given the rocky road that the show has taken to even get a fourth season. After being unceremoniously canceled by NBC back in mid-2021, the show spent a few months in limbo, being rejected by many streamers, including Netflix themselves. However, after Netflix began streaming the first three seasons of the show, it became clear that a vast audience would likely return in their thousands to see the story come to a proper conclusion.
Eventually, Netflix agreed to revive the show for a bumper 20-episode final season, ending the story of Montego Air Flight 828 and its passengers. Show creator Jeff Rake firmly put the success of the show’s renewal in the hands of the audiences who had demanded it and made Netflix sit up and pay attention. At the time, he wrote:
"What started years ago as a flight of fancy deep in my imagination has evolved into the jet engine journey of a lifetime. Never in my wildest dreams could I have envisioned the worldwide outpouring of love and support for this story, its characters, and the team who work so hard to bring it all to life. That we will be able to reward the fans with the ending they deserve moves me to no end. On behalf of the cast, the crew, the writers, directors, and producers, thank you to Netflix, to Warner Bros., and of course to the fans. You did this."
How Will Manifest End?
That is the question everyone wants to know and the reason so many people have tuned into the opening episodes of season 4. But, of course, until the final part arrives, many questions remain unanswered. Most fans are just hoping for an ending that delivers more than the disappointment many felt about the finale of Lost, a show with fantasy elements not unlike Manifest.
According to Rake, he always had a plan for five seasons of Manifest. This could bode well, as unlike Lost, which was wrapped up quickly after the writers were told the show was coming to an end, it seems like Rake has always had a definite ending in mind. While there will still be some fans who are not satisfied with the ending they get, which is something that is common in most long-running sci-fi dramas, the fact they are getting one at all should be taken as a blessing.
Manifest Season 4A is streaming now on Netflix. Season 4B’s release date is yet to be announced.