Prepare for a Lost-esque new series when Manifest premieres on NBC with Once Upon A Time‘s Josh Dallas and Valor‘s Melissa Roxburgh starring. Manifest delves into what would happen if a missing plane and its passengers returned.
When Montego Air Flight 828 landed safely after a turbulent but routine flight, the crew and passengers were relieved. But in the span of those few hours, the world had aged five years – and their friends, families and colleagues, after mourning their loss, had given up hope and moved on. Now, faced with the impossible, they’re all given a second chance. But as their new realities become clear, a deeper mystery unfolds and some of the returned passengers soon realise they may be meant for something greater than they ever thought possible.
The Cast
Ben Stone (Josh Dallas)
Ben is an intelligence analyst and family man struggling against the things he can’t control – whether it’s his son’s rare pediatric cancer or the mysterious events surrounding the return of Flight 828.
Michaela Stone (Melissa Roxburgh)
Michaela is a rookie police officer grappling with the tragic actions of her past and the prospect of a future with her fiancé, Jared. When she returns home on the mysterious Flight 828 with her brother Ben, she finds that life has a strange new purpose.
Cal Stone (Jack Messina)
Struggling with a terminal illness, young Cal’s world is upended even more when he returns from Flight 828 and must reconcile with the sister and mother he knows with a new reality.
Olive Stone (Luna Blaise)
Devastated by the loss of her father and twin brother, the now-teenage Olive seeks to re-establish a bond when their plane miraculously reappears five years later.
Grace Stone (Athena Karkanis)
After years of mourning the loss of her husband and son, Grace is now reunited with her lost family, and with the miracle of their return she’s ready to embrace the new normal.
Jared Vasquez (J.R. Ramirez)
Jared is a police detective who eventually moved on with his life after the disappearance of fiancée Michaela’s plane. But now that she’s back, he’s torn apart by the return of his first love.
Saanvi Bahl (Parveen Kaur)
A brilliant graduate student and medical researcher, Saanvi’s life changes dramatically when she disembarks Flight 828 to learn that her work has led to some startling medical breakthroughs.
Series creator Jack Rake came up with the series over 10 years ago and at San Diego Comic-Con, Rake said almost the entirety of the series has already been charted out.
“I have a pretty serious roadmap,” he said. “As an event mystery, buyers want to know where you’re going. They need to know you have an end game.” He adds, “I don’t know everything but I know a lot.”
While it hasn’t been confirmed if the series was further inspired by the mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, it could definitely have been a contributing factor to the series being picked up by NBC last year.
Manifest will dig into science versus faith as the story progresses. “It’s a huge thrust of the show,” Rake said. “Ben is inspired by Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters. Michaela is a lapsed person of faith. She believes all of this might connect to a higher calling. It’ll be one of our series mythology questions.” However, the siblings won’t be the only ones who are experiencing strange things. “There’s 191 people who are on that plane so we have a lot of stories to tell.”
The series stars Melissa Roxburgh (Valor), Josh Dallas (Once Upon A Time), Athena Karkanis (Zoo), J.R. Ramirez (Jessica Jones), Luna Blaise (Fresh Off The Boat), Jack Messina and Parveen Kaur (Beyond). From Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Back To The Future) and Jack Rake (The Mysteries of Laura, The Tomorrow People) comes an emotionally rich, unexpected journey into a world grounded in hope, heart and destiny.
Manifest will premiere Monday September 24th at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.
