Manifest Season 2 Premiere's Final Moment Should Get Fans Talking

Manifest Season 2 premiere Ben Stone looks nervous on bed
(Image credit: NBC)

NBC's Manifest is finally back! Season 2 picks up from the February 2019 finale, which left off on multiple cliffhangers, including that alarming "expiration date" for the Flight 828 passengers. The Season 2 premiere, aptly titled "Fasten Your Seatbelts," will continue the tradition of ending episodes on big moments. Hopefully fans are left talking enough to keep ratings high. If we really are going to keep this train running until June 2, 2024, NBC will need more than two seasons!

A Manifest fan asked what to expect from the show's return, and here's the answer:

The final moment of Monday night’s Manifest Season 2 premiere is well worth the wait. Oh, and I cannot imagine anyone has correctly guessed what Ben has just learned in our #2020FirstLook photo.

Nice! That response from TVLine references a photo the site posted of Ben Stone (Josh Dallas) and pregnant Grace Stone (Athena Karkanis) in a doctor's office. We see Ben wiping his eye in fatigue/frustration/fear next to Grace and her sonogram. Why? Fans will find out.

I'm excited for Manifest fans to discuss the premiere. Don't forget, we are still waiting on the results of Jared and Zeke's gun fight. Michaela Stone's (Melissa Roxburgh) guys left off in a physical fight, and NBC's synopsis for the Season 2 premiere teased a bad ending for that brawl:

As the Stone family reels in the aftermath of a devastating shooting, they're hit with their most foreboding Calling yet, sending Ben on a mission to locate two Flight 828 passengers who have mysteriously gone missing. Grace grapples with her new pregnancy, the Major attempts to tighten her grip on the unwitting Saanvi, all while the clock on the lives of the 828ers continues to tick towards zero.

Yeah, there's a lot going on! Grace is pregnant, but is it even Ben's baby or is it Danny's baby? What is up with The Major and The Holy Grail? What's going on with Saanvi (Parveen Kaur) and the common blood markers, which are in danger of being exposed? Why does Cal have such strong, special powers? Will Michaela and Zeke end up together or not? Will Ginnifer Goodwin make a special appearance at some point? Also, I doubt we'll see what happened to Fiona and the pilot anytime soon, but I haven't forgotten about their flight through the lightning storm.

Josh Dallas previously teased that Ben would start to accept the death date and start making preparations, but then something "very major happens within the mythology" in Season 2, Episode 7 and "that takes Ben’s way of thinking and shifts it." (I'm guessing that expiration or "death date" won't stick.)

According to Deadline, part of Manifest Season 2's plot also follows the X-ers, a group of people who view the Flight 828 passengers as a threat. We'll be meeting a few X-ers as new characters for Manifest Season 2. Here's more on them, among other new additions:

Leah Gibson (Marvel’s Jessica Jones) will play Tamara, an alluring and street smart bartender of an X’er hangout. Carl Lundstedt (Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger) plays Billy, Tamara’s protective and hot-headed brother.

Blue Bloods alum Yasha Jackson is joining the show in the recurring role of Suzanne Martin, described as dean at Astoria University and Ben Stone's ex-girlfriend. They happen to reconnect after running into each other on campus. Garrett Wareing is also joining Manifest as TJ Morrison, another passenger on Flight 828. He's a college freshman who went to Jamaica for vacation and came back 5.5 years later, just like Ben, Michaela, and company. TJ is reportedly alone in the world and Ben takes him under his wing.

According to Deadline, Andrene Ward-Hammond (Claws) will play Captain Kate Bowers, the newly appointed captain of Michaela Stone's precinct. Ellen Tamaki (Charmed) will portray Drea Mikami, the bright and confident detective Bowers assigns as Michaela’s new partner.

Since it's been so long since Manifest Season 1 aired, you can catch up on all the major moments with this 12 minute video:

Manifest Season 2 airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC, starting this Monday, January 6. Keep up with everything premiering in early 2020 with our handy TV schedule.

Gina Carbone

Gina grew up in Massachusetts and California in her own version of The Parent Trap. She went to three different middle schools, four high schools, and three universities -- including half a year in Perth, Western Australia. She currently lives in a small town in Maine, the kind Stephen King regularly sets terrible things in, so this may be the last you hear from her.