NBC's Manifest was cancelled all the way back in June after the Season 3 finale delivered the kinds of cliffhangers guaranteed to drive fans crazy if answers never came along, but the cancellation was not the end of the story. The subsequent #SaveManifest campaign ranging from fans to Stephen King all the way up to showrunner Jeff Rake proved that not everybody was ready to give up, and the first two seasons' arrival on Netflix in fact saw the fandom grow post-cancellation. Now, the odds of a Season 4 at Netflix have never looked better, but will all the stars return if the renewal happens?
Production studio Warner Bros TV is reportedly nearing the end of negotiations with Netflix for a fourth season of Manifest, according to Deadline, and those negotiations have involved conversations with the stars as well as writers. The news comes not too long after interest in Season 4 began to grow again at both Netflix and NBC thanks to Manifest holding strong for weeks on Netflix's Top 10, but it's reportedly down to Netflix now with NBCUniversal out of the running. So, will negotiations bring back the stars, and are they all available?
It's worth noting that the stars of Manifest have contributed to the #SaveManifest movement in the weeks and months since the cancellation, although nobody has kept that torch lit quite as much as showrunner Jeff Rake, who originally had a vision for six seasons to tell his story. Still, fans following the cast on social media over the past few months will have noted posts of support from Josh Dallas (Ben Stone), Melissa Roxburgh (Michaela Stone), J.R. Ramirez (Jared Vasquez), Matt Long (Zeke Landon), Parveen Kaur, and Luna Blaise (Olive Stone).
In fact, even Athena Karkanis and Jack Messina had #SaveManifest posts, and Karkanis' Grace was shockingly murdered in the Season 3 finale, while Messina's Cal was seemingly aged up five years with the role picked up by an older actor. So, it seems that the stars have been willing to reprise their Manifest roles, but that doesn't 100% automatically mean that they'll all be available.
Matt Long joined the cast of a new pilot that is in the works for NBC after cast options expired and were not renewed back in June, although joining a pilot isn't necessarily the kind of job that would prevent an actor from returning to a series regular role on a show that blew up on streaming. At this point, it seems the key players of Manifest are willing to return. Josh Dallas even tweeted the news that the show's chances of a rescue are better now than ever. I think it's fair for fans to get excited, but not count on getting everybody and everything until anything is confirmed.
It's just a question of whether the deals can be worked out for all the pieces to come together in the event of a renewal for Season 4. At this point, a fourth season hasn't even been confirmed, even if there are more reasons than ever to hope. The chances of a Netflix rescue feel better now than ever before, even though Manifest did finally drop off the streamer's Top 10 list. For now, fans will just have to keep on waiting and hope that any good news comes sooner rather than later.
Manifest definitely won't be returning in the next few weeks even if it gets an official Season 4 renewal from Netflix as soon as possible, but there are still plenty of options to be found on our 2021 fall TV premiere schedule. As for Manifest, you can keep on watching the first two seasons on Netflix, and the third streaming on Peacock.
