‘Manifest’: 4 Questions Left Unanswered Without a Season 4
Just like Montego Air Flight 828, Manifest has disappeared with no explanation. NBC announced on June 14, 2021, that it has canceled the missing plane drama after three seasons. Show creator Jeff Rake said that he began looking for another network, but at the moment, there are no concrete plans for continuation.
Without the prospect of a season 4, it seems that Manifest fans may never hear the answers to their burning questions. The season 3 finale didn’t exactly tie up loose ends; in fact, it only created more confusion. The last 10 minutes of the season left multiple cliffhangers that may never be addressed without more time on the air. Here are four questions about what has happened and what will happen that fans need answers to.
[Spoiler alert: The following story contains major spoilers for the Manifest Season 3 finale.]
1. Where did Cal, Captain Daly, and Flight 828 go?
In the Manifest Season 3 finale, fans saw Cal (portrayed by Jack Messina) touch the Flight 828 tailfin and then disappear to…where? He reappeared in Michaela’s (Melissa Roxburgh) calling, but it seemed as though he wasn’t really there. It’s almost like he was astral projecting from another realm. He remained in that other place for much of the episode.
In the final moments of the episode, Aria (Mahira Kakkar) witnessed Captain Bill Daly (Frank Deal) appear, along with the plane he hijacked way back in season 1, in the Eureka testing facility. Daly appeared frightened of wherever he came from, but before Aria could help him, he and the plane disappeared right into thin air again.
Presumably, Cal and Captain Daly, as well as Flight 828 when it first disappeared, all went to the same place. But where is that? Rake told TVLine that it may be purgatory or some other world entirely. Whatever the case may be, Cal and Ben were supposed to investigate the realm in Manifest Season 4. How do people get to this place, and why are they sent there?
2. How did Cal suddenly become 17 years old?
When Cal finally returned at the end of Manifest Season 3, he somehow progressed to age 19 — the age that he’s supposed to be alongside his twin sister, Olive (Luna Blaise). Older Cal only showed up for a brief minute or so beside his dying mother. At first, it seemed as though he was only a figment of Grace’s (Athena Karkanis) imagination as she took her final breaths. However, a tweet from Rake has suggested that his intention was to keep older Cal around.
Rake posted a tribute to Messina and thanked the young actor for his time on the show, which seemed to hint that there was no longer a need for 14-year-old Cal. What caused Cal to age five years? Has young Cal been an alternate version of the real Cal all this time, and the real Cal has finally returned?
3. Will the Stone family get Eden back?
In the episodes leading up to the Manifest finale, Angelina (Holly Taylor) came to believe that baby Eden, Cal and Olive’s younger sister, was her guardian angel. She even lit Eden’s bedroom on fire in an attempt to prove that Eden would keep Angelina safe from harm.
In the last episode, Adrian (Jared Grimes) told Angelina that her guardian angel would protect her, so she headed back to the Stone house to take Eden for good. Angelina locked Olive in her bedroom and killed Grace to get to the baby girl.
Speaking with TVLine, Rake revealed that Angelina believed her actions would save herself and other passengers “from a group of people … who were going against God’s will.” He teased that future seasons could involve more of Angelina, which meant that fans might see Eden again. Will authorities catch Angelina and bring Eden home?
4. How will Ben cope with Grace’s death?
Flight 828’s mystery has deeply affected all of the passengers, especially Ben. He spent Manifest‘s three seasons attempting to solve the case and essentially became the leader of the Flight 828ers. In the third season, Ben started to blur the line between right and wrong in order to save himself and the other passengers.
Ben has always felt guilty about putting Grace in danger. Now that she has died and Eden has gone missing, he may spiral. What is he willing to do in order to avenge his family?
“I don’t know if he’s going to handle all of those things within the letter of the law,” Rake teased to TVLine.
