On Tuesday June 15, it was announced that the NBC drama “Manifest” would not get renewed for a fourth season. “Manifest” premiered in Sept. 2018 with over 10 million viewers tuning in. The plot follows a group of people who board Flight 828 and appear to land safely, only to discover that five years have passed since their flight and they are all presumed to be dead. Everyone on the ground aged five years and lived life normally, but for the passengers only a few hours passed. Now they must figure out how to re-integrate themselves back into their daily lives while dealing with the after effects of the flight.
The season three finale aired on Thursday June 10, which was also the same day that seasons 1 and 2 were put on Netflix. Within days, the show quickly shot to #3 on the list of their most watched shows and eventually clinched the #1 spot and stayed there. Many viewers thought this success could be the boost the show needed to get renewed, but unfortunately the cancellation was announced less than a week later.
This year, NBC has also cancelled “Connecting,” “Superstore,” “Debris” and most recently “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” which also gained popularity and grew a loyal fan base during its two seasons.
Over the past few days, the cast, crew and fans of “Manifest” have all been expressing their disappointment about NBC’s decision to cancel the series. The hashtag #SaveManifest was even trending on Twitter following the news. The show’s creator, Jeff Rake, has said in past interviews that there was already a plan mapped out for six seasons.
On June 15, he tweeted about the news saying, “I’m devastated by NBC’s decision to cancel us. That we’ve been shut down in the middle is a gut punch to say the least…Thanks for the love shown to me, cast, and crew. #savemanifest”.
Parveen Kaur, who plays Saanvi Bahl on the show, tweeted “I have some thoughts but in the meantime… #SaveManifest”. There is even a petition on Change.org with nearly 13,000 signatures pressing NBC to let “Manifest” run for six seasons as it was intended to.
If NBC doesn’t change their minds, fans are hoping that another studio, such as Netflix, picks up the show so viewers can get a proper ending. It is common these days for a studio to continue a series after another studio cancels it. Netflix has done this plenty of times in the past few years by either continuing the series where it left off or creating a spin-off series using some of the original cast members. Shows such as “Designated Survivor” and “Lucifer” were cancelled by their original networks, but were ultimately picked up by Netflix and moved forward immediately. “Full House” and “Degrassi: Next Generation” are examples of shows that got a Netflix spin-off after being cancelled. Right now, the future of “Manifest” remains uncertain.
“Manifest”, seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on Netflix.
Season 3 is available on Hulu and for free on NBC and Peacock.