Manifest ending explained: who survived the Death Date? Was it all a dream? And will there be a season 5?
If you devoured supernatural Netflix dramas Stranger Things and soaked up spooky Addams Family spin-off Wednesday, then you will have loved the mysterious drama Manifest.
In Part 2 of the season 4 finale, we saw the passengers of Flight 828 hurtling towards their 'Death Date', and fans were excited and anxious to know how it was all going to end.
Melissa Roxbough, who played Michaela Stone in the hit show, told Tudum: "It felt like the right time to end the story. I’m absolutely going to miss going to set with everyone and I’m going to miss just playing in that world, because it was such a fun and exciting world to play in, but I think it’s perfect. I think it’s supposed to be left where it’s left.”
Here's everything we know about the Manifest ending, and if there will be a season 5.
WARNING: Manifest season 4 spoilers ahead - and the ending revealed.
Manifest ending explained
In the series finale, the episode starts the morning after Cal's self-sacrifice - on the ominous Death Date - with Michaela, Ben, Saanvi and TJ all waking up with what seems like a panic attack. We're still suspending belief that they'd be able to sleep the day before they were destined to die, but hey ho.
Olive, TJ and Eden go for a walk in the forest and find the volcano card. They also spot an inscription on a rock that's difficult to read, so they decide to go back to the Stone house (where Angela and her cult followers are hiding) to look through old family albums for clues.
Michaela, Ben, Saanvi and TJ start thinking that the panic attack symptoms they woke up to are actually a premonition about how they are going to die. Cal's sacrifice created a beacon of light towards Storm King Mountain that other passengers of Flight 828 are drawn to, including Angelina's cult, but Eagan and Adrian manage to sabotage her van so that she and her followers can't reach the mountain.
Ben tries to reassure the gang with an inspiring speech about Cal, but suddenly the ground opens up and there's the plane. Ben and Michaela realise that to survive the Death Date they have to go back on the plane.
Meanwhile at the Stone house, Olive, Jared and Drea are looking through Olive's grandma's bird photos to try and find one with the inscription on the rock. The pictures are categorised by birds names, and one of them - the silver drake - catches their eye. 'Drake' is actually another word for dragon and the Al-Zuras had previously called the plane a silver dragon.
They manage to find a photo of the rock and read the inscription: "Forgiveness lightens the heart PIXLAZ". They realise that the AZ in PIZLAZ stands for Al-Zuras, and Olive starts reading through his journal.
She finds what she thinks is a picture of Ben carrying her out of the fire (back in season 2), but actually it's Angelina. She calls Ben and tells him the only way to survive the Death Date is to forgive Angelina for killing his wife and kidnapping his daughter.
Later, when Ben sees Angelina and gets hold of her gun, rather than kill her he carries her onto the plane, just like in the picture Olive found.
Let's talk about that ending! The cast of Manifest answers as many of your series finale questions as we could fit into this video pic.twitter.com/LpXxTEuLgVJune 12, 2023
With everyone on board Captain Amuta and co-pilot Michaela take off. Some of the passengers start getting panic attack symptoms again, and then Paul suddenly disintegrates into ash. It starts happening to others too, including Saanvi, who tells Ben she's ready to die as she believes it's her destiny. Ben reminds her that killing the Major was an accident and recounts all the people she's saved, and she is spared.
Adrian also starts to burn up and self combust, and Eagan begs for his life to be taken instead. He also starts to turn to ash but after owning up to his own mistakes, he's saved. Angelina dies next, and then the Grim Reaper appears. Ben and Michaela beg him to save the lives of everyone left, saying they deserve a second chance. Thankfully it seems to work because the deathly figure vanishes.
Captain Amuta sees a glow in the distance and flies the plane straight through it only to arrive back in New York on 7 April 2013 - the date they were originally due to land. And while they've been through the most challenging ordeal of their lives, everyone else is carrying on as if nothing has happened. All the people who died in the past four seasons are actually alive and well (apart from the passengers who self combusted during the finale). Phew!
A peek behind the scenes at the final table read 💙 pic.twitter.com/2IdCAgLH9KJune 28, 2023
What does the ending of Manifest mean?
The ending of Manifest means that it's never too late to start again. While the passengers of Flight 828 are confused when they arrive back in New York as if nothing happened, they understand they've been given a second chance.
They realise that the past five years and everything they experienced was real, but no time has passed for everyone who wasn't on the flight. Now, they have the option to make different and better decisions.
Will there be a season 5 of Manifest?
No, there won't be a season 5 of Manifest. The finale of the supernatural show aired on 2 June 2023 and the cast and fans are already in mourning.
One fan wrote on Instagram: "I just finished the very last episode of all the seasons last night and I don't know what else to do in life anymore 😭😂 it was one of the best shows ever created."
“The whole filming of the last episode was super emotional,” Manifest star Josh Dallas, who plays Ben Stone, told Tudum.
“We did a read-through of the final episode and I was a mess throughout the whole thing, because there were two things going on: what was happening with the characters in the show, but then it was also Josh, the actor, sad about saying goodbye to this character and to the story and, most importantly, to this group of people that had come together over the last five years to create the story.
"It was supercharged, super emotional. Don't ever let ’em tell you that boys don’t cry.”
On the official Instagram page, @manifestonnetflix wrote: "I can feel the love from this group hug" as the season wrapped filming.
One fan replied: "Season 5? Please?"
Manifest is streaming on Netflix now.
In other TV news, we have answers to all your important questions. On Disney+, we've taken a look at whether The Bear is based on a true story, too.
