When Manifest’s third season ended on a massive cliffhanger, fans were excited to see what would happen next. This was followed by devastation when NBC confirmed it had canceled the show. Like Netflix has done before, however, the streaming service swept in and picked up the fan-favorite show for a fourth and final season.
Ahead of the first 10 episodes of season 4, fans are already discussing theories about how things will end and what will happen in the final episodes. Some have even gone so far as to publish detailed, 40+ page predictions of their ideas.
There Are Two Possible Realities
While Redditor miimtab doesn’t have a theory as to why everything happened, they do have some ideas about what is going on. They believe that everything that has happened to this point suggests one of two realities will become the truth. This is, more generally, one of the many weird and wild Manifest theories that were posited on Reddit after the season 3 finale. In one scenario, the theory goes, the plane crashed and everyone on it is dead. In the other, the crash never happened and the survivors will be restored back to humanity, at the ages they would be in the present day.
Their evidence for this is how different events seem to have pushed reality one way or the other. For example, when Saanvi kills the Major, the tail-fin is seen at the bottom of the ocean. “All signs indicated that it had been there for seven years,” they write. “Saanvi’s actions moved reality closer to one in which the plane had exploded and lay on the bottom of the ocean.” By contrast, when Cal did certain things, he “moved reality closer to one in which the plane safely landed in New York without time delay or issue.” This explains why, when Cal resurfaced, he was the proper age he would be had there not been a time jump.
Cal Is In A Coma
The concept of everything being a dream is one that has been predicted by fans for many shows and has even been true to life in a few. Indeed, this is one theory fans think might be the case with Manifest. Redditor Manifestfan thinks Cal has been in a coma this whole time and the entire show is his dream. They think everyone on the plane is a patient while Saanvi is a doctor and Ben, Cal’s father, is there desperately trying to help save his son. Indeed, Saanvi has proven she will go the extra mile, such as when she risked her life to return the tail fin, the bravest thing she did on Manifest.
They even go so far as to say that the meth heads might be pharmaceutical researchers trying to run experimental trials on Cal. “The lifeboat theory is a metaphor for Cal’s life force being diminished by everyone’s actions around him that are directly tied to his wellness and their own wellness,” they write. Since people in comas can sometimes hear what is going on around them, it’s possible everything is a manifestation, pun intended, of Cal’s dreams.
It's All Part Of A Divine Plan
In Redditor Usagi042’s 46-page analysis of Manifest, their summation is that the entire show is “all a blessing disguised as tragedy.” They compare Manifest to Twin Peaks from the ‘90s, saying it’s all a big puzzle that points to God selecting random groups of people to “enter a selection/competition to see who’s worth becoming their next Earth proxies, or something.”
They believe Cal – one of the best Flight 828 passengers from Manifest - and Eden are likely winners from this group, while people like Zeke and the meth heads were “mere chess pieces God was using so he could explain the rules.” The people struck by lightning, meanwhile, are elevated to some type of divine status. But before becoming these “angels” or “saints,” they must first be tested, which comes in the form of the Callings
Split Timelines
It’s obvious there’s some type of split in time, but Redditor Aviationfan424 has a fairly detailed theory about how it all might work. After Flight 828 took off from Jamaica, there are two timelines, which they call A and B. In A, Michaela accepts Jared’s proposal, Cal continues treatment, and Zeke never goes on a hike and simply lives with his guilt. In timeline B, the plane crashes and they all die.
Their idea is that somewhere in the middle, dark lightning from the storm caused timeline A to merge with a new timeline C, which is what has been depicted on the show to date. “But since two objects can’t be in the same place at the same time,” they explain, “timeline B’s plane splits.” This means the A version of the passengers are killed but the timeline A plane still moves forward 5.5 years in the same spot it was before, but now filled with timeline B passengers, who are completely confused since they were supposed to be dead. “Since these are all very genetically identical people, their brains merge, forming Callings,” which the Redditor described as “the future knowledge of the As mixed with the memories of the Bs.” This explains the whole “it’s all connected” storyline. Thus, the returned are indeed the people they claim to be, just different versions of themselves that should have existed in a different timeline (or rather should have perished in the other timeline).
Cal Knew Grace Was Going To Die
The most pivotal moment of season 3, and the one that had fans reeling when NBC canceled the show before it could be explained, was when Grace was killed and an older teenage version of Cal was seen rushing to her dead body. Many, including Redditor u/hh_sav_, theorize that Cal actually knew all along his mother would die and also knew there was nothing he could do to stop that event from occurring. This could paint Cal as a low-key villain from Manifest.
They suggest that this might explain why he was being so welcoming to Angelina, perhaps trying to change what he knew the outcome would be if he believed he could make her feel like she was truly part of the family. “When he finally realized what he needed to do, he touched the tail fin, which allowed him to beat his death date and basically age 5 years,” they write. They also believe Cal said “this had to happen” when he stood over his mother’s body, suggesting she might have been a sacrifice of some kind for the greater good.