'Manifest' Season 4: Everything We Know

It's official: Manifest is coming back for a fourth season on Netflix. The announcement was made on 8.28 a.m. on 8/28/2021—a nod to the pivotal Flight 828 in the series, a plane that returns with its passengers five years after taking off from Jamaica. Almost all of the cast, including leads Josh Dallas and Melissa Roxburgh, will return for the show's final chapter (or two). The August 2021 renewal of Manifest marked a stunning about-face by Netflix, which initially declined to renew the series, as did the show's creator NBC—but both were forced to reconsider after the addition of Manifest (opens in new tab) to Netflix shattered U.S. streaming records.

"There is something very meta about the show's death and rebirth, given that that's the story of the series itself," creator Jeff Rake said (opens in new tab) in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. He's referring to the show's titular "manifest" of characters, all of whom were presumed dead for years before their plane touched down in New York City. The show follows a brother and sister duo—Dallas and Roxburgh—as they seek to pick up the pieces and find out exactly what happened to them.

Netflix's decision to renew Manifest came two months after the streamer picked up the first and second seasons of the NBC show. Per Hollywood Reporter, 25 million Netflix accounts in the U.S. and Canada watched the show in its first month. Even after Manifest dropped out of the No.1 spot, it continued to dominate Netflix's charts: In August of 2021, Nielson confirmed that Manifest had broken its streaming-ratings records with more than a billion views a week for six straight weeks. And by September, Manifest was the third show in Netflix history to sit in its Top 10 for 100 days—ever.

'Manifest' Season 4 Release Date

Season 4 of Manifest is expected to come out in the fall of 2022, with some fans speculating that it could come out on 8/28/2022 in honor of the flight's Flight 828—and one year after the show was "saved." Deadline reported in early June that its release date will be "this fall."

What Could Happen in 'Manifest' Season 4?

Creator Rake will have to squeeze his three planned seasons' worth of plot 20 episodes—split into Part One and Part Two, Lucifer-style—to reach a fitting conclusion. In his EW interview, he said: "The endgame won't change at all...I am absolutely confident that 20 episodes gives me enough time to tell the entirety of the story as I always intended to."

Here's Netflix's official description of the season, per Deadline: "When Montego Air Flight 828 landed safely after a turbulent but routine flight, the crew and passengers were relieved. Yet in the span of those few hours, the world had aged five years — and their friends, families and colleagues, after mourning their loss, had given up hope and moved on. Now, faced with the impossible, they’re all given a second chance. But as their new realities become clear, a deeper mystery unfolds and some of the returned passengers soon realize they may be meant for something greater than they ever thought possible in this emotionally rich, unexpected journey into a world grounded in hope, heart, and destiny."

Josh Dallas, who plays Ben, shared in an interview with Netflix Life that there will be a time jump of two years. “We begin the next season two years from where we left off season 3. So we’ve moved ahead in time,” said Dallas. He also wrote about Ben on Twitter: "To be honest… he’s not in a great place," and tweeted an on-set photo of a funeral, with the caption: "Brace yourselves."

The Cast of 'Manifest' Season 4

According to Deadline's Andreeva, the cast were no longer contractually bound to the show after June 2021. Thankfully, most of the cast signed on in September following the renewal—except for the character who died at the end of season three, and the character who...unexpectedly aged (no spoilers!). Also promoted to series regular is Daryl Edwards, who plays Vance.

Meanwhile, said character who unexpectedly aged is being replaced by the older actor who was featured at the end of season three. It's a shame, because the two actors who aren't returning were pivotal to the first three seasons of Manifest and its success thus far—and according to Andreeva, the remaining cast is set to receive "sizable pay increases" for the fourth season. The budget for each episode of the final season has also been considerably increased, according to What's On Netflix—from $1 million to $4 or $5 million.

According to What's on Netflix, we'll get a few new characters in the fourth season—but minor ones. We'll meet Kyle Boyd, who was a passenger on Flight 828 alongside the key characters we know and love, and two more characters named Tela and June. We'll also meet a couple of smaller characters, reportedly named Captain Kevin Fahey and Detective Price.

Trailer for 'Manifest' Season 4

Here's the first-look sneak peek of Manifest season 4:

As for a full-length trailer? It's on its way, according to Rake. In June, he tweeted: "How about that trailer, Manifesters? Finally a nibble. Hang in there!"