Picture: Netflix
A final supersized final season of Manifest is coming exclusively to Netflix globally in November 2022. In honor of the upcoming season, welcome to our supersized preview for Manifest, digging into everything we know and expect from season 4 of Manifest that has now completed filming on both parts.
Note: This preview was first published in September 2021 and was last updated in October 2022 to reflect news and updates. Keep it bookmarked.
Everything We Know So Far About Manifest Season 4
Before we kick off, here’s the main trailer for Manifest season 4 revealed at Netflix Tudum 2022 and presented by Melissa Roxberg and Josh Dallas.
Netflix also unveiled a slew of new photos from the new season:
NEW FIRST LOOKS at #Manifest season 4! pic.twitter.com/W9TsyZJaeK
— What's on Netflix (@whatonnetflix) September 24, 2022
Key details about Manifest season 4 on Netflix
This is a long preview and will be going into lots of detail about the fourth season of Manifest. If you’re just looking for the headlines. Here are the top points you need to know:
- Season 4 will consist of 20 episodes however will release in 2 or more parts.
- The first 10 episodes will arrive on Netflix on November 4th, 2022
The release date for Manifest Season 4
- Netflix will release the fourth season exclusively globally.
- Netflix will acquire global rights to the previous three seasons, although it’ll roll out slowly worldwide.
- Hulu and Peacock will lose the show in late September 2021.
- Season 4 will be the final season of Manifest.
- Jeff Rake will continue showrunning duties for the final season.
- Executive producers for the new season include Robert Zemeckis, Jack Rapke, Jacqueline Levine, and Len Goldstein.
- Warner Brothers Television, Compari Entertainment, Netflix Productions, and Universal Television are the production companies behind the show.
- According to Puck News, the budget for each episode is increasing by a million from $4 to $5 million.
- Filming on the first half of Manifest season 4 concluded in April 2022 and is rumored to be coming in November 2022 (albeit not globally).
- Reviews for season 4 part 1 will go online on October 28th and 9 AM PT.
Manifest season 4 poster – Picture courtesy of Netflix
Before we get into everything else you need to know, here’s what you can expect from the new season:
“Two years after the brutal murder of Grace turned their lives upside down, the Stone family is in shambles as a devastated Ben continues to mourn his wife and search for his kidnapped daughter, Eden.
Consumed by his grief, Ben has stepped down from his role as co-captain of the lifeboat, leaving Michaela to captain it alone, a near impossible feat with the passengers’ every move now being monitored by a government registry.
As the Death Date draws closer and the passengers grow desperate for a path to survival, a mysterious passenger arrives with a package for Cal that changes everything they know about Flight 828 and will prove to be the key to unlocking the secret of the Callings in this compelling, mind-bending, and deeply emotional journey.”
The Road to Manifest Season 4 on Netflix
Before we look to the future, let’s look at the road to Manifest season 4 on Netflix.
Manifest’s story began in 2018 when Flight 828 took off in the pilot episode on NBC. The series gripped viewers being the 9th top-rated show on NBC that season. NBC ordered a second and a third season however, viewership had dropped substantially over time.
Season 1 reportedly had 12.61 million viewers on average, dropping by over half when season 3 began airing.
In the summer of 2021, the writing was on the wall for Manifest; this is where the timeline with Netflix begins.
NBC canceled the show shortly after Manifest’s season 3 finale aired on June 10th, 2021. In a likely last effort ditch to give the show some more exposure, Warner Brothers Television (who is the main owner of the show) licensed seasons 1-2 to Netflix on June 10th, 2021 as we first reported.
Manifest – Picture: NBC
Once the show’s first two seasons dropped on Netflix in both the United States and Canada, the show took off. Netflix’s top 10s were the first early indication that the show resonated with dominating the lists for weeks.
As of September 17th, 2021, the show has placed in the US top 10s for 94 days and 78 days in Canada.
Many articles sprung up about how Manifest was the biggest show in the US for the summer (although that’s been disputed) it was enough to get the ball rolling on conversations for a revival.
Since the revival of the show, Netflix has revealed that between June 27th and September 12th, seasons 1-3 was watched at least 214,520,000 million hours just in the United States and Canada.
After weeks and months of back and forth (and plenty of insider notes that talks were ongoing courtesy of Deadline) a deal was eventually struck and a supersized final season was announced on August 28th, 2021.
The third season was added to Netflix US on August 21st, 2021 with Canada shortly following afterwards.
An in-depth piece from The Hollywood Reporter provides more context surrounding the cancelation and renewal and revealed that 25 million had checked out the show on Netflix within 28 days.
When looking at renewal, some of the key sticking points for Netflix were picking up the global rights and making sure the cast could come back with the majority of the cast’s contracts had expired.
That’s where we move into what we know so far about season 4 of Manifest.
Manifest Season 4 Cast: Who’s returning and who’s new?
One of the big issues surrounding renewal as we stated above was getting the cast on board.
In an interview with AllYourScreens ahead of the Netflix renewal, Jeff Rake when asked about the cast contracts said:
“In the weeks following the cancellation, the studio asked for the actors for a several week extension so they could shop around and see whether anyone wanted to pick up the show. And all of the actors were kind enough to do for a couple of more weeks. And then we got to a point where no one was immediately stepping up, and at this point, those contracts have expired.
So right now, those actors are out there as free agents. So that’s just one more hurdle we would have to overcome should we find our partner to continue producing the show.”
Manifest cast – Picture: Warner Brothers Television
Josh Dallas, J.R. Ramirez, and Melissa Roxburgh were the first two cast members to be confirmed to return.
On September 9th, Parveen Kaur, Luna Blaise, and Holly Taylor were confirmed to return. In addition, Ty Doran was promoted to season regular.
On September 10th, it was reported that Daryl Edwards who plays NSA director Robert Vance was promoted to series regular.
The key departure for the show thus far has been Jack Messina, who played the role of Cal. That’s despite the fact it was reported that Cal was negotiating to return.
Although Matt Long originally had a scheduling conflict because of his appearance in a new NBC pilot, Getaway. TVLine reported that Matt Long will be in the fourth season, with Jeff Rake telling the outlet him returning will allow “Zeke to complete his Manifest journey just as originally intended.”
Alexis Suarez will return to play the role of Alonzo. Ben Livingston will return as Kenneth Meyer.
Some of the new smaller members you’ll see in season 4 include:
- Perry Strong as Captain Kevin Fahey
- NaTonia Monét as Detective Price
- Aaron Smallwood Jr. as Registry Uniformed Officer
- Dan Matteucci as a Lawyer
- Breton Tyner-Bryan as an untitled cop
- Charles Massey as Security Guard
- Sabastian Betts as 828 Officer
In late April 2022, the RenewManifest Twitter handle shared several picks of the “Eden Twins,” which will feature in season 4.
https://twitter.com/RenewManifest/status/1518205250674569216
New Characters to Feature in Season 4 of Manifest
Thanks to numerous casting grids, we can confirm several new characters that will feature in season 4.
- Henry Kim – “Asian male between the ages of 50-80 years of age. The character must appear frail and thin and speak English with a noticeable accent. The character was one of the passengers of flight 828 who returns to Singapore, where he is detained after miraculously returning. He undergoes a military tribunal due to fear and suspicion of passengers rising. The Singaporean government later executes him. Michaela Stone learns of his death from Captain Kate Bowers, which is one of the deciding factors in her quitting her job.”
- Kyle Boyd – Another passenger on Flight 828. Indigenous from the Hopi Tribe and white.
- Tela and June -Two minor characters. Tela is an Indigenous from the Shinnecock Indian Nation and June is an Indigenous from the Hopi Tribe and “infirmed in a hospital bed”.
Josh Dallas as Ben Stone, Matt Long as Zeke Landon in episode 402 of Manifest – Picture: PETER KRAMER/NETFLIX
Manifest Season 4 Episode Titles and Directors
No episode titles have been revealed yet, although we did get a first look at the “Blue Revision” of episode 401, which was shared with the infamous glasses known to long-time fans of the show.
- Episode 401 – Touch and Go – Written by Jeff Rake and Simran Baidwan – Directed by Romeo Tirone.
- Episode 402 – All Call – Written by Laura Putney & Darika Fuhrmann – Directed by Dean White
- Episode 403 – High Flight – Written by Margaret Easley & MW Cartozian Wilson – Directed by SJ Main Munoz
- Episode 404 – Go-Around – Written by Matt K. Turner & Ezra W. Nachman
- Episode 405 – Squawk – Written by Simran Baidwan & Sumerah Srivastav
- Episode 406 – Relative Bearing – Written by Laura Putney & Ryan Martinez
- Episode 407 – Romeo – Written by Ezra W. Nachman & Darika Fuhrmann – Directed by Josh Dallas
- Episode 408 – Full Upright & Locked Position– Written by Matt K. Turner & Jimmy Blackmon – Directed by Erica Watson
- Episode 409 – Rendez-vous – Written by MW Cartozian Wilson & Sumerah Srivastav
- Episode 410 – Inversion Illusion – Written by Jeff Rake & Margaret Easley
- Episode 411 – TBD – Directed by Romeo Tirone
- Episode 412 – TBD – Directed by Romeo Tirone
- Episode 413 – TBD – Directed by SJ Main Munoz
- Episode 414 – Fata Morgana – Written by MW Cartozian Wilson and Ryan Martinez – Directed by Claire Fowler
- Episode 415 – TBD – Directed by Romeo Tirone
- Episode 418 – Lift/Drag – Written by Ezra W. Nachman & Ryan Martinez – Directed by Melissa Roxburgh
- Episode 419 – TBD – Directed by Melissa Roxburgh
- Episode 420 – TBD – Directed by Romeo Tirone
Manifest script for episode 401
Josh Dallas will be directing an episode (specifically episode 7) of Manifest season 4.
https://twitter.com/Manifest_France/status/1500946609210892290
Erica Watson, who has worked on Snowpiercer, Krypton, The L Word: Generation Q, and Power Book II: Ghost is set to make her directorial debut on Manifest this season.
Why Netflix is finishing the show and not continuing it beyond season 4
One question you may have is why Netflix is renewing the show simply only to give it a single season (which could be construed as Netflix simply renewing and instantly canceling).
According to the aforementioned Hollywood Reporter article Jeff Rake “presented Netflix executives with three different options to wrap up the show,” which were “A two-hour movie, a six-episode limited series or full season.”
Matt Long as Zeke Landon, Matt Long as Zeke Landon in Manifest Season 04. Melissa Roxburgh as Michaela Stone in Manifest Season 04
Many will know Jeff Rake originally planned the show to run for 6 seasons, and Netflix’s expanded season will get the show relatively close.
When will Manifest season 4 be on Netflix globally?
Manifest Season 4 Part 1 is coming to Netflix on November 4th, 2022, although it’s unclear if all regions will have the show’s new season available all at once.
The reason is that not all regions currently have access to seasons 1-3 of the show.
Since last summer, we’ve seen the show slowly roll out across a bunch of new regions, including a big batch that received Manifest on January 1st, 2022, including:
- Australia
- Greece
- Hong Kong
- Iceland
- Israel
- Italy
- Lithuania
- Malaysia
- Philippines
- Russia
- Singapore
- South Africa
- Switzerland
- Thailand
- The Netherlands (only seasons 1-2)
- Ukraine
More Netflix regions received seasons 1-3 of Manifest on July 1st, 2022. Those included:
- Japan
- Portugal
- Poland
- India
- France
- Romania
- South Korea
- Spain
- Belgium
- Brazil (added on July 15th)
- Czech Republic
- Hungary
- Germany
Where is Manifest Season 4 in Production?
The series’ fourth season has filmed in two halves (reflecting the two halves on Netflix).
- Season 4 Volume 1 was filmed between November 18th, 2021 to April 20th, 2022.
- Season 4 Volume 2 is filming between June 13th, 2022 through October 11th, 2022. (was originally October 31st)
Shortly after its renewal at Netflix, Jeff Rake told EW regarding production:
“I’m hopeful that cameras are rolling in November or December latest. We’re going to work as fast as we can while still keeping an eye on quality control, because we want to get episodes to everyone as soon as possible. We also want them to be excellent. It might take a minute for a brand-new batch of episodes to show up in people’s homes, but it’s going to be worth the wait.”
In early October 2021, we got word that production was scheduled to begin in November 2021. It’ll be filmed entirely in New York again, with much of the production taking place at Silver Cup Studios.
Pre-production started in October 2021 with Empire State Grips posting that they were beginning to prepare for filming with an Instagram post with the caption “We are doing a thing again.”
Manifest pre-production started – Picture: Empirestategrips / Instagram
On November 18th, Jeff Rake released the first picture from the Manifest set and confirmed that the show was back in production.
AND WE’RE BACK!#Manifest pic.twitter.com/HpSpeKI0I2
— Jeff Rake (@jeff_rake) November 18, 2021
Filming took a short break over Christmas and is expected to run throughout much of 2022. According to a report from SBJCT (h/t NetflixLife), filming is largely expected to wrap in late 2022, with Ginnifer Goodwin saying:
“I adore Manifest, but I’m ready for my husband to come home from NYC. He’ll wrap the series in late 2022 and we are craving a vacation.”
According to Variety Insight, filming is tentatively set to wrap on September 20th, 2022, but given the length of production, that’s certainly subject to change.
On January 30th, 2022, Jeff Rake was asked to provide an update on filming and the fourth season where he replied:
“Picking up the pieces. Forging ahead. The clock ticking.”
In April 2022, Holly Taylor, who plays Angelina, confirmed on Instagram that the first half of the final season had wrapped.
“First half of the final season of Manifest is in the can. Now, a little break before we wrap it up. Enjoy it Manifam.”
On October 11th, 2022, the official account for Manifest confirmed that filming for both halves of season 4 had wrapped.
https://twitter.com/ManifestNFLX/status/1579894613804216320
That’s all we have for now. We’d recommend giving the official Twitter account for Manifest a follow for updates by the minute. We’d also recommend following @Manifesters_ and @RenewManifest on Twitter, who are doing an awesome job of keeping up with every update regarding the show.
Let us know if you’re excited to watch season 4 of Manifest in the comments down below.
