Manifest (TV series)

Manifest
Genre	Drama Supernatural
Created by	Jeff Rake
Starring	Melissa Roxburgh Josh Dallas Athena Karkanis J. R. Ramirez Luna Blaise Jack Messina Parveen Kaur
Composer	Danny Lux
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	9 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Robert Zemeckis Jack Rapke Jacqueline Levine Jeff Rake David Frankel (pilot)
Producers	Cathy Frank Laura Putney Margaret Easley Harvey Waldman
Cinematography	Tim Ives Tim Norman Joseph Bradley Smith
Editors	Elena Maganini Nicholas Erasmus Scott Boyd
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	43 minutes
Production companies	Compari Entertainment Jeff Rake Productions Universal Television Warner Bros. Television
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 24, 2018 (2018-09-24) – present (present)

Manifest is an American supernatural drama television series, created by Jeff Rake, that premiered on September 24, 2018, on NBC. The series centers on the passengers and crew of a commercial airliner who suddenly reappear after being presumed dead for over five years. It stars Melissa Roxburgh, Josh Dallas, Athena Karkanis, J. R. Ramirez, Luna Blaise, Jack Messina, and Parveen Kaur. On October 18, 2018, it was announced that NBC had ordered an additional three episodes of the series, bringing the first season total up to sixteen episodes.

Premise

Montego Air Flight 828 from Jamaica to New York City experiences a brief period of severe turbulence. When they land, the passengers and crew learn from the National Security Agency that over five-and-a-half years have passed while they were in the air, during which time they were presumed dead. As they reintegrate themselves into present-day society, the passengers begin to face the fact that their lives—and loved ones—are not the same as they were before, while they also begin to experience guiding voices and hallucinations.

Cast and characters

Main

• Melissa Roxburgh as Michaela Stone, a police officer who works at the NYPD's 129th Precinct, and Ben's sister
• Josh Dallas as Ben Stone, an associate professor and Michaela's brother
• Athena Karkanis as Grace Stone, Ben's wife who runs a catering business
• J. R. Ramirez as Jared Vasquez, a detective at the NYPD's 129th Precinct and Michaela's ex-fiancé, who is now married to her best friend
• Luna Blaise as Olive Stone, Ben and Grace's daughter and Cal's twin sister. Jenna Kurmemaj portrays a young Olive in a recurring role.
• Jack Messina as Cal Stone, Ben and Grace's son and Olive's twin brother, now five-and-a-half years younger than she is
• Parveen Kaur as Saanvi Bahl, a graduate student and medical researcher

Recurring

• Daryl Edwards as Robert Vance, the director of the NSA who leads the investigation of the re-emergence of Montego Air Flight 828. He dies after an explosion in "Dead Reckoning" while rescuing kidnapped passengers at the Singularity Project's hidden lair.
• Alfredo Narciso as Captain Riojas, the police captain of the NYPD's 129th Precinct who Michaela and Jared work for
• Mugga as Bethany Collins, a flight attendant on Flight 828 and Georgia's wife
• Tim Moriarty as Tim Powell, the deputy director of the NSA
• Julienne Hanzelka Kim as Kelly Taylor, a wealthy passenger on Flight 828 who is murdered shortly after speaking to the media
• Frank Deal as Bill Daly, the pilot of Flight 828
• Curtiss Cook as Radd, a street violinist and passenger on Flight 828
• Rich Topol as Harvey, a passenger on Flight 828. Despite the intervention of Michaela, Harvey later commits suicide by jumping off a roof.
• Omar Torres II as Tony Diaz, a police officer in the NYPD's 129th Precinct
• Malachy Cleary as Steve Stone, Michaela and Ben's and Cal and Olive's grandfather
• Geraldine Leer as Karen Stone, Michaela and Ben's mother and Cal and Olive's grandmother who passed away during the time when Flight 828 was missing
• Victoria Cartagena as Lourdes, Michaela's former best friend who is now married to Jared
• Joe Urla as Patrick Taylor, Kelly Taylor's husband, whose tenants at a retail mall are illegal immigrants whom he extorted
• Sean Kaufman as Kevin, Cal's former best friend who is now dating Olive
• Daniel Sunjata as Danny, Grace's boyfriend whom she met after finally moving on from Ben
• Andrew Sensenig as Glen, Evie's father
• Adriane Lenox as Beverly, Evie's mother who now has dementia
• Sheldon Best as Thomas, a man smuggled into America by Bethany who fled from Jamaica's homophobic brutality
• Thursday Farrar as Dr. Williams, a physician and Saanvi's colleague
• Edward Chin-Lyn as James Lyn, an NSA agent
• Nikolai Tsankov as Marko Valeriev, a Bulgarian passenger of Flight 828 who is among the foreign nationals in the custody of the UDS and the Singularity project
• Francesca Faridany as Fiona Clarke, a scientist on Flight 828 who is involved with Unified Dynamic Systems and the Singularity project
• Mehdi Barakchian as a Unified Dynamics scientist who is experimenting on Marko
• Jacqueline Torres as a Unified Dynamics clinician who is assisting in experimenting on Marko
• Michael Drayer as Ronnie Wilcox, a senior accountant and Ben's supervisor at J. P. Williamson

Guest

• Joel de la Fuente as Brian Cardoso ("Pilot"), Saanvi's boss
• Jim True-Frost as Dave Hynes ("Pilot"), a church rector
• Onata Aprile as Hallie Pyler ("Pilot"), one of two kidnapped girls found by Michaela
• Lacey DeLaFuente as Samantha Pyler ("Pilot"), one of the two kidnapped girls found by Michaela
• Linda Powell as Vice admiral ("Reentry"), a speaker at the meeting with NSA Director Vance, DHS Director Hughes, and a DARPA scientist
• Brandon J. Dirden as Detective Donovan ("Turbulence"), a detective operating in Long Island
• Simone Elizabeth Bart as Evie ("Turbulence"), Michaela's friend who died in a car crash when Michaela was driving her home
• James Hiroyuki Liao as Rob ("Turbulence"), Danny's friend who is a chef at Grace's catering business
• Olli Haaskivi as Isaiah ("Turbulence"), a suspect in Kelly's death who meets Michaela and claims that she is "one of them"
• James Ciccone as Jimmy Carlucci ("Connecting Flights"), Jared's union delegate who advises him regarding pending charges
• Eva Kaminsky as Georgia ("Connecting Flights"), Bethany's wife
• Jacqueline Antaramian as Anna Ross ("Off Radar"), a linguist and Bulgarian interpreter on Flight 828 who helps Marko and later helps Ben
• Mateo Ferro as Carlos ("S.N.A.F.U."), a young barber whose uncle is fatally shot by a robber
• Charlie Hudson III as David ("S.N.A.F.U."), a junior accountant and Ben's colleague at J. P. Williamson
• Brian Wiles as Laurence Belson ("Point of No Return," "Dead Reckoning"), a senior official at Unified Dynamics, in charge of the Singularity project. He is later killed by an explosion at the Singularity Project's lair.
• Shirley Rumierk as Autumn Cox ("Dead Reckoning"), a Flight 828 passenger who has arrest warrants on her. She was used by Laurence's superiors to find out what Ben knows about the Singularity Project.

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	"Pilot"	David Frankel	Jeff Rake	September 24, 2018 (2018-09-24)	T33.01003	10.40
Montego Air Flight 828 from Jamaica to New York City experiences a brief period of severe turbulence. When they land, the passengers and crew learn from the NSA that over five-and-a-half years have passed while they were in the air. Police officer Michaela learns that her mother has died and her fiancé Jared has married her best friend. Michaela begins hearing a voice that guides her to save a child from being hit by a bus and to rescue two abducted young girls. Medical researcher Saanvi learns that her work has helped save hundreds of pediatric cancer patients while she was gone. Michaela's nephew Cal, who is suffering from terminal cancer and was also on Flight 828, is a candidate for the treatment. Also experiencing headaches and hearing voices, Michaela's brother Ben and the rest of the returned passengers and crew are drawn to the airstrip where the plane is parked. As they look on, the plane explodes.
2	"Reentry"	Dean White	Jeff Rake & Matthew Lau	October 1, 2018 (2018-10-01)	T30.10102	8.45
The NSA questions the 20 Flight 828 passengers and crew who were present when the plane exploded, and they are told not to discuss their experiences with the media. Ben helps fellow passenger Radd make contact with his son Adio, who is imprisoned at Rikers Island for a robbery he says he did not commit. Ben's new abilities lead him to discover the real culprit is the store owner's son, and Adio is freed. Meanwhile, Michaela avoids Jared's wife—her former best friend Lourdes. Seeing the many posts and birthday messages Lourdes left for her on social media during the years she was missing, Michaela reaches out to her, and lies that she was planning to decline Jared's proposal before the plane disappeared. Ben learns from Olive that there is another man in Grace's life. Kelly, one of the passengers from Flight 828, speaks with the media, and is murdered.
3	"Turbulence"	Paul Holahan	Gregory Nelson & Bobak Esfarjani	October 8, 2018 (2018-10-08)	T30.10103	7.45
Thinking Kelly's murder may be connected to her speaking out, Michaela and Ben visit the murder scene, and later speak to Kelly's husband Patrick and housekeeper Christine. The NSA takes control of the investigation, and Vance tries to compel Jared to keep him informed of Michaela's movements. Cal is upset to discover that his former best friend Kevin is dating Olive. Michaela is still traumatized by the death of her friend Evie, who was killed in a car wreck while Michaela was driving, for which Evie's parents Glen and Beverly blame Michaela. She visits Glen and Beverly and learns that Beverly has dementia while Glen is no longer angry at Michaela. Michaela later faces her fear of driving to find Beverly, who has wandered off, and saves her from being hit by a car. The driver is Christine, who is in possession of Kelly's missing necklace and later admits to killing her. Michaela tells Jared that something has changed in her that she cannot explain. Saanvi finds something unusual in Cal's blood, and then in her own, which is usually produced by an ischemic stroke. The NSA takes custody of Kelly's body.
4	"Unclaimed Baggage"	Craig Zisk	Laura Putney & Margaret Easley	October 15, 2018 (2018-10-15)	T30.10104	7.46
A flashback reveals that flight attendant Bethany smuggled her cousin Leo's boyfriend Thomas in the cargo hold, and the NSA found his fingerprints. Saanvi compares scans of her brain to those of an institutionalized patient and seeks him out. He turns out to be Thomas. When Michaela's partner is unavailable due to a "busted pipe," Jared reluctantly follows Michaela's instincts and they interrupt the ATF's undercover operation. Jared takes responsibility for his decision and is suspended. Grace learns the life insurance company intends to recollect the $500K which they paid her after Ben's disappearance and presumed death. Ben meets Grace's ex-boyfriend Danny after Olive was detained for attempting to shoplift a lipstick from a cosmetic store. Thomas escaped from the institution and the NSA is searching for him. With help from Michaela and Saanvi, Bethany correctly interprets the clues from Michaela's vision and they find Thomas. Bethany explains that Leo went missing two years after their flight disappeared, leaving no one to meet Thomas. Michaela and Saanvi help Bethany find a safe place in the former mall owned by Kelly Taylor. Robert Vance subsequently adds Thomas as "John Doe" to his Persons of Interest board, replacing Kelly Taylor.
5	"Connecting Flights"	Tawnia McKiernan	Amanda Green & Margaret Rose Lester	October 22, 2018 (2018-10-22)	T30.10105	7.29
Flashbacks show how Grace, Olive, Jared, Lourdes, and Steve coped during the day when Flight 828 went missing. Jared's cover-up following the incident causes him to be docked 10 days pay thanks to Robert Vance. Ben and Cal go to Coney Island where Cal suddenly leads Ben to Thomas while quoting "it's all connected" which Ben has been hearing in his head. Bethany is picked up by the NSA to talk about the "John Doe" she snuck into the United States while her wife helps Thomas escape to a cabin in the mountains. After advice from her father, Michaela goes to speak to Jared at a bar. Ben and Cal learn from Bethany's wife Georgia that she got picked up by the NSA. Michaela learns from Ben about Cal not hearing voices like they do but still having abilities that manifest in a different way, causing Ben to dedicate himself to figuring the mystery out. In the final scene, a flashback shows Cal looking out the window while the passengers of Flight 828 are asleep as he sees something glowing outside and a voice stating that "it's all connected," the words that have begun haunting Ben.
6	"Off Radar"	Félix Enríquez Alcalá	Matthew Lau & M.W. Cartozian Wilson	November 5, 2018 (2018-11-05)	T30.10106	6.28
When Cal develops an unexplained fever and begins speaking Bulgarian, Ben connects his condition to a Bulgarian man named Marko Valeriev who was also on flight 828, but has not been seen since leaving the hanger. He and Michaela review footage from the night the plane landed and see passengers loaded onto five buses, but only four arrived at their intended destination. The fifth bus contained eleven passengers who were foreign nationals, had no next of kin, or were otherwise individuals no one would report as missing. Further research revealed the buses were contracted by Unified Dynamic Systems (UDS), a large corporation involved in many industries. After getting some information from the translator Anna Ross, Michaela locates a farm where UDS is experimenting on the eleven passengers, but she and Jared are chased away by armed men. Ben confronts Vance about the missing passengers, believing the NSA is behind their disappearance and threatens to tell the press. Although Vance has dossiers on the eleven passengers showing they are accounted for, he leads a team to investigate the farm location. UDS has moved locations, but Vance finds a bloody bandage that was left behind by accident. When the experiments on Marko are stopped for the move, Cal recovers.
7	"S.N.A.F.U."	Michael Schultz	Jeff Rake & Bobak Esfarjani	November 12, 2018 (2018-11-12)	T30.10107	6.10
In a flashback, Fiona Clarke helps Kelly Taylor place her carry-on in an overhead bin. Suspicious about Unified Dynamic Systems in the present while a released Cal senses that Marko is getting worse, Ben takes a low-level accounting job at J. P. Williamson working under Ronnie Wilcox where he finds information about Fiona Clarke. Still navigating her guilt over Evie's death, Michaela visits Glen and Beverly where the latter's dementia has gotten worse. She and Jared later respond to a crime scene at a barbershop where a man named Carlos mentions about how his uncle was shot by a robber as he is reluctant to ID the culprit that matched the description. Olive and Danny go rock climbing to prepare for an event together. Ben and Saanvi attend a presentation at UDS where Fiona informs them about the Singularity Project that she was was not aware of. After getting the information downloaded at J. P. Williamson, Ben runs into Vance where he reluctantly gives him the flash drive. After getting Carlos to cooperate, Michaela and Jared head out to find the culprit and were able to stop him before he can rob an old man at broken bottle-point. Later on, Michaela finds a picture of Evie at the barbershop where Carlos mentioned that she was a donor when he had heart failure. As Cal states to Ben that Vance isn't a bad man, Vance tells Powell to not have their men converge on Ben.
8	"Point of No Return"	Nina Lopez-Corrado	Gregory Nelson & Margaret Rose Lester	November 19, 2018 (2018-11-19)	T30.10108	5.56
Ben and Grace allow Cal to return to school with Olive assisting Cal. After getting a "don't lose him" calling, Michaela and Jared respond to a situation where a flight 828 passenger named Harvey is planning to jump off the roof of a synagogue. Despite Michaela's attempts, Harvey commits suicide after claiming that he is the "Angel of Death." Cal returns to school and re-establishes his old friendships with his friends who are now 5 1/2 years older, and his presence sparks old memories among them. At J. P. Williamson, Vance causes a fire drill where he will help Ben out. They start by having Fiona visit the people that approached her and plant a bug as they listen in on Fiona's discussion with Laurence Belson. While grocery shopping for a night out with Ben, Grace runs into Lourdes and notices that she has a fertility kit in her shopping cart. After being informed of this by Grace, Michaela accompanies Jared to the site where they find that a bartender that Harvey interacted with is dead like the other two people as Michaela gets the "don't lose him" calling again. Ben secretly borrows Ronnie Wilcox's work ID to get to some information in a building. The next day, Ben and Michaela meet with Vance where they trace the signals to a warehouse that has no public access. In the final scene, Laurence has the Singularity Project work on Marko again as Cal senses it.
9	"Dead Reckoning"	Paul Holahan	Laura Putney & Margaret Easley	November 26, 2018 (2018-11-26)	T30.10109	N/A
Back when Flight 828 has landed, Robert Vance discovered a warrant for the arrest of a passenger named Autumn Cox. In the present, Ben is playing basketball with Cal when Autumn shows up with knowledge on what the Singularity Project has been doing to the missing passengers. As there are arrest warrants out for her, Ben enlists Saanvi and Fiona to help out at the hideout. Robert Vance is briefed about the Singularity Project and Laurence Belson. Meanwhile, Laurence and his scientist do a broadcast to Laurence's superiors about the experiment. When Marko is only tested on as Cal senses it, two others react. When the power is boosted, those who have the callings start reacting. Meanwhile, Grace holds a barbecue while Ben is away as some people from J.P. Williamson show up wanting his ID card upon his employment termination. Olive discovers that Cal is missing. As Michaela, Jared, Vance, Ben, and Fiona arrive at the warehouse with a strike team, they find nothing. Cal shows up and identifies the nose blood on his drawing which exposes a hidden door. Upon entering, there is a gun fight where Fiona and Ben help free the missing passengers while Vance and Jared go after Laurence. A fire caused by the resulting gunfight hits the oxygen tank. While Ben, Fiona, and those with them make it out, the building explodes before Vance and Jared can make it out with Laurence. As Fiona gets the missing passengers to a facility that Unified Dynamics Systems owns, Michaela enters and finds them on the ground. At the hospital, Michaela is told by Riojas that Vance died in the ambulance as Jared is hanging on. Michaela tries to get a message to those sending the callings to keep Jared from dying. Grace reprimands Ben for Cal having snuck out as she has a breakdown. This causes Ben to take his leave from Grace for a while. Back at the hospital, Jared recovers as he turns down Michaela's suggestion to bring Lourdes in. Michaela hears about what happened with Ben as she plans to find somewhere for him to live for a while. When nobody is looking, Autumn pulls out a hidden cellphone and texts "Now what?" A flashback is shown where Laurence used her to get close to Ben in order to find out what he knows.

Production

Development

On August 23, 2017, it was announced that NBC had given the production a put pilot commitment. The pilot was written by Jeff Rake, who was also set to serve as executive producer alongside Robert Zemeckis and Jack Rapke. Jackie Levine was expected to serve as a co-executive producer. Production companies involved with the pilot were slated to consist of Compari Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television. In January 2018, it was reported that NBC had given the production a pilot order and that David Frankel would direct and executive produce the pilot. In May 2018, it was announced that NBC had given the production a series order of thirteen episodes with a premiere in third quarter of 2018 and a Monday timeslot at 10 p.m. On June 19, 2018, it was announced that the series would officially premiere on September 24, 2018. On October 18, 2018, it was announced that NBC had ordered an additional three episodes of the series, bringing the total up to sixteen episodes.

Casting

In February 2018, it was announced that Josh Dallas, Melissa Roxburgh, and J. R. Ramirez had joined the pilot's main cast. In March 2018, it was reported that Athena Karkanis, Parveen Kaur, and Luna Blaise also had been cast in main roles.

Release

Marketing

On May 13, 2018, NBC released the first official trailer for the series. On July 21, 2018, the series held a panel at San Diego Comic-Con in San Diego, California. Those in attendance included executive producer Jeff Rake and actors Melissa Roxburgh and Josh Dallas. On August 28, 2018, the first nine minutes of the first episode were released among various digital outlets.

Premiere

The series took part in the 12th Annual PaleyFest Fall Television Previews on September 10, 2018, which featured a preview screening of the series.

Reception

Critical response

The series was met with a mixed response from critics upon its premiere. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 58% with an average rating of 6.53 out of 10, based on 33 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Manifest's attempts to balance supernatural mystery and melodrama largely work thanks to its well-chosen cast — though it could use a few more distinguishing characteristics." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 55 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."

In a more positive assessment, USA Today's Kelly Lawler explained how she felt that the series' simplicity and variety of drama subgenres might help it outlast similarly themed but ultimately unsuccessful past shows. She further praised the series for maintaining the standard of quality it set with its premiere episode saying, "Heavily serialized shows, such as Lost, Breaking Bad, or Game of Thrones often start with a great concept and first episode. But many lesser shows collapse when the story expands. Manifest navigated through its first major roadblock by easily moving from the setup to meatier stories." In another favorable evaluation, Variety's Daniel D'Addario commented that the pilot didn't "pretend to have answers; it only poses questions. But its inquisitiveness and willingness to be bold and fairly uncynical given all the things it's trying to be is more than welcome." In a mixed critique, Los Angeles Times's Lorraine Ali remarked that the series had a compelling premise and that the many mysteries it introduced "point toward a potentially addictive series if Manifest allows its gripping supernatural narrative to rise above its characters' less interesting personal dramas." In a negative review, The Washington Post's Hank Stuever compared the series negatively to other network science fiction series saying, "Manifest, alas, beelines thoughtlessly toward its hokiest idea, when some of the returning passengers discover they've acquired psychic powers. Just like that, a viewer who might have been interested in the human element is instead served a cold plate of mystery meat — not the new Lost, but a feeble throwback to forgettable failures such as The Event." In a similarly dismissive appraisal, The New York Times' Margaret Lyons commented that "Manifest has a frustrating lack of propulsion, a central dullness whose force field is so strong it bends all the interesting parts toward itself.

Ratings

The premiere episode was both the top-rated new show for the broadcast season, and the top-rated show airing that week.

Viewership and ratings per episode of Manifest

No.	Title	Air date	Rating/share (18–49)	Viewers (millions)	DVR (18–49)	DVR viewers (millions)	Total (18–49)	Total viewers (millions)
1	"Pilot"	September 24, 2018	2.2/9	10.40	2.0	7.99	4.2	18.40
2	"Reentry"	October 1, 2018	1.8/8	8.45	1.8	7.51	3.6	15.96
3	"Turbulence"	October 8, 2018	1.6/7	7.45	1.8	7.38	3.4	14.85
4	"Unclaimed Baggage"	October 15, 2018	1.5/7	7.46	1.7	6.88	3.2	14.35
5	"Connecting Flights"	October 22, 2018	1.4/6	7.29	1.6	6.34	3.0	13.63
6	"Off Radar"	November 5, 2018	1.2/5	6.28	1.8	6.97	3.1	13.24
7	"S.N.A.F.U."	November 12, 2018	1.1/5	6.10	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
8	"Point of No Return"	November 19, 2018	1.1/5	5.56	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD

External links

• Official website
• Manifest at IMDb