In 2013, Montego Air Flight 828 left Jamaica headed to New York City. When it landed, the passengers were stunned to learn it was now 2018 — and no one on the plane had aged a day.
Welcome to the world of Manifest, where losing five years was somehow just the start of the weird shenanigans ahead.
Since their mysterious return, the 828ers have found themselves plagued by “callings,” visions or voices that compel them toward some action or person. They also learned they actually died on the flight and were resurrected… but their second life could quickly be coming to an end. A prophesied “Death Date,” the amount of time between a person’s death and their resurrection, is approaching in 2024. To survive, they’ll have to decode the “callings” and lean on each other.
Off screen, the cast became equally close over the course of four seasons. “There hasn't been a bad seed on our show,” star Melissa Roxburgh tells Tudum. “It’s so rare that that happens. It was awesome.”
Prior to the flight, Michaela is an NYPD cop, happy with her boyfriend/fellow cop, Jared — and contemplating his marriage proposal. While on 828, Michaela decides to say yes… only to learn he married her best friend during the five years she was missing.
The duo find themselves repeatedly drawn together after her return, briefly embarking on an affair. Later, a “calling” brings her to Zeke, whose 2017 near-death experience found him jumping in time a year, akin to the 828ers. With his Death Date approaching, Michaela and Zeke tie the knot.
Michaela is often entangled with her brother, Ben, and nephew, Cal, both of whom were also on 828 and experience “callings,” as well as her now deceased sister-in-law, Grace, and niece, Olive.
But the losses hit very close to home for Mick when Zeke makes a big sacrifice to save Cal… and humanity as a whole.
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A devoted family man, Ben is heartbroken over his son Cal’s terminal cancer diagnosis. With their flight home from a family vacation overbooked, Ben stays with Cal, while his wife, Grace, takes Cal’s twin, Olive, on a different flight. When Ben and Cal get off 828 and discover how much time has passed, they try to find their new normal.
Ben and Grace eventually reconcile and welcome a daughter, Eden. Ben finds himself following “callings” alongside Michaela while going to great lengths to get to the bottom of what happened with Flight 828.
After Grace’s death and Eden’s kidnapping, Ben spends his days trying to find his daughter. Though they’re reunited, the family has to contend with yet another crisis as Cal’s health quickly spirals to the point of no return.
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Jared mourned Michaela — who he proposed to before Flight 828 — for years after believing she perished. He ended up marrying Lourdes.
When 828 returns, Jared and Michaela’s connection has personal and professional ramifications. The duo briefly have an affair, leading to the end of his marriage. His police career also takes a hit, as he investigates 828-related cases and briefly is embedded with the anti-828 group Xers.
Jared also starts romancing Drea, and the pair begin working for the 828 registry.
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Olive is forced to grow up quickly when her father, twin brother and aunt seemingly perish on 828. Her world is once again thrown for a loop when they return. And making things even more unsettling? She’s now five years older than her twin. (Spoiler alert: That won’t last.)
Though she doesn’t have any of the special abilities that her family possesses, Olive is using her resources to research what these “callings” actually are. It’s proven to be extraordinarily helpful, as she realizes the importance of sapphire in the quest for humanity’s survival.
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Before 828, Cal is a deeply sick preteen enjoying one last vacation with his family. After the flight, his cancer goes into remission — and he arguably becomes the passenger with the closest connection to the “callings.”
Due to that inexplicable tie, Cal often relays important information and is the subject of conspiracy theories and attempts on his life. (Yup, these are the kind of bad guys who are willing to take out a kid.)
At the end of Season 3, Cal’s new “calling” leads to a burn on his skin, possibly connected to testing on the 828 wreckage. He touches the plane’s tail fin and disappears. He returns shortly after, five years older… just in time to witness his mother’s death.
But when Cal returns, so does his cancer. His health quickly declines as his cancer progresses. But with humanity’s fate tied to Cal’s survival, a family member makes an enormous sacrifice to save him.
Newcomer Doran took over the role from Jack Messina, who portrayed Cal for the first three seasons. He previously appeared in episodes of American Crime, The Blacklist and Chicago Fire.
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Prior to boarding 828, Saanvi was working on a possible cure for leukemia. When she resurfaces, her work has been utilized, saving countless cancer patients.
With so much unknown about what the 828ers went through, Saanvi is their resident expert/scientist, trying to discover the cause of the “callings” and a way to avoid the death date… even if it means experimenting on herself. (Oh, and she committed a teeny-tiny murder in an attempt to save Zeke.)
In the aftermath of losing the omega sapphire, Saanvi’s work is shut down and she realizes she’s been backstabbed by Dr. Gupta.
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In 2017, Zeke goes on a trek, attempting to find some peace over his sister’s untimely death. A blizzard traps him in a cave, and he has to burn everything in his possession to stay alive. The sole bit of comfort he keeps? A photo of Michaela, whom he never met, from a magazine commemorating the victims of Flight 828.
He finally escapes and has his first “calling,” compelling him to Michaela (who shares a similar pull to him, along with Cal). The duo quickly bond, and when they realize he died in the cave and was resurrected, they opt to tie the knot to live out the rest of their time together before his death date.
He exhibits signs of frostbite, the way he initially died, but pushes through it to follow a “calling” to save Cal’s life… and Zeke survives his death date. Now, his “callings” have shifted, and he’s an empath.
The new powers are overwhelming, and Zeke falls off the wagon. But, ultimately, he realizes he can use his empathic abilities to make a very big swing — and potentially save the world.
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Angelina, a 828er, is brought into the Stone family’s orbit in Season 3 after a “calling” alerts them that her religious family is holding the young woman hostage. But Angelina’s connection to Eden quickly becomes dangerous as she’s convinced the child is her guardian angel.
Angelina tries to test the connection, but, naturally, it scares Eden’s mother, Grace, who kicks her out. Cal, however, hides Angelina in the family home, leading to tragedy: Angelina kills Grace and kidnaps Eden.
While she manages to successfully evade the Stone family for a while, in the end a devastated Angelina loses Eden. Later, she tries to manipulate Ben into giving Eden back to her — by invoking a fake calling of the deceased Grace — but fails. By the end of Part 1, Angelina has a fragment of the powerful sapphire embedded in her and is out for revenge.
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As the director of the NSA, Vance is tasked with figuring out what happened to Flight 828. He briefly fakes his own death, continuing his work secretly, and then struggles with whether he should go back to working with the government again. Ultimately, he does, working on Project Eureka, which was examining the wreckage from Flight 828 — until the reconstructed plane vanished into thin air.
Though they have reason to trust very few people, Saanvi and Vance have settled into a (mostly) good partnership when their work is sabotaged, and they have to destroy as much as they can before it’s removed from their possession.
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Manifest Season 4, Part 2 takes off June 2.
