Matt Long's Zeke plays a major role in the main story for season 2 of NBC's mystery drama Manifest, and Monday's episode offered a surprising twist that is sure to have a big impact on Zeke's story. Zeke was introduced in Manifest season 1 as a drug addict with a troubled past and a mysterious connection to the show's main protagonist, Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh). Zeke joined the show in the back half of season 1 as a recurring character, and was upped to a series regular for season 2. At the end of the latest episode, a twist revealed that Zeke secretly has a wife.
Matt Long spoke to Screen Rant about the big reveal and the ramifications it has for the characters, Zeke's relationship with Michaela, and what Manifest season 2 has in store for his character. It's important to note that Zeke's character factors heavily into the ongoing mysteries currently unfolding in season 2.
Like the passengers of Flight 828, Zeke is faced with an ominous "death date", which means he's living on borrowed time. What separates him from all the others is that Zeke's death date is much closer than everyone else's, so how Manifest resolves Zeke's story may shed light on the fates of the other characters on the show. In this interview with Screen Rant, Matt Long also discusses the death date, and what it means for Zeke, and how long fans will have to wait for it to be addressed.
Let's talk about that big reveal. When the new character shows up at Michaela's door, she says she's Zeke's "wife". I noticed no one said "ex-wife".
Right, that throws a big wrench into the gears, and that will play out over the next episode or two, what that is, the history of that, what that means for Michaela and I, and Courtney and I. Zeke learns from his [AA] sponsor that he needs to make amends to the people that he's hurt in his life, and so he starts with his ex-girlfriend, Courtney. They get together, and some complications arise out of that, and like I said, that continues to play out.
Are there other people he needs to make amends to?
There are a couple other people during the season that come back into his life, by choice or just because of previous decisions he's made that create a lot of personal problems for him and conflict for Michaela, and Courtney will be involved in some of those things and some, she will not be involved in. So yeah, that continues to come up, which is awesome for me. There's so much great backstory for Zeke. You know, he started out like that last season. I've just been really fortunate that they've always had very rich and compelling things for me, and as an actor that's really rewarding. I'm really grateful and he's really fun to play.
Zeke was upfront with Michaela about his past, sharing things about his drug problems, which is why I think it's surprising that this is one part about his life that he decided to leave out.
Yeah that's exactly right. That was one of the questions that I had when I first read it too because I didn't know it was coming. I mean, look, life is complicated and people are complicated and we do things a lot of times that don't have a logical explanation, and sometimes they do have a logical explanation. You'll see what it is and what it means for all the characters in the next couple episodes, but it is something that's complicated and you know, Zeke has been complicated from the beginning. He's always had an air of mystery about him, people wondered if they could really trust him, and that's interesting, I think, when people watch, and it's interesting for the character, and for being an actor too.
All season, Michaela has trusted Zeke and has been the one person who hasn't doubted him. Will this change that?
Yeah, it does for sure, because Zeke and Micheala have this supernatural connection, and it's not like they just saw each other in a bar and started talking to each other. There's so much going on there. Their souls are meant to be together, they've been pulled together, by the Callings and the shared experiences and they mean so much to each other, so it's going to be interesting to see how this complication plays out.
One of the things that interests me about Zeke is that despite his questionable past, he strikes me as one of the most noble characters on the show, considering how quick he was to take responsibility for Michaela getting shot. And he doesn't blame Jared, even though Jared still blames him.
Well, right, I think he blames Jared, and he blames himself. He doesn't want to just point fingers. He realizes he is just as culpable for what happened to Michaela as Jared, and probably more so, because Zeke has always carried this guilt and shame around and so he is predisposed to accepting that, but at the same time if Jared hadn't been so suspicious, and hadn't followed him into Michaela's apartment and hadn't accused him of something he didn't do, when in reality he was doing just the opposite. He was doing something, like you said, he was going to sacrifice himself, basically, to take Griffin out to protect the [Stone] family. So yeah, it is a big thing to do to not scream from the rooftops that it was Jared. But we saw that Michaela did that instead, for him, and once he realized he had made a mistake, turning himself in, when Michaela came to the rescue, and then, that's another one of those things that pulls them together and makes the other one mean so much.
Let's move on to the death date. I recall them saying earlier that he has about eight months left before his comes up. Can you confirm if we'll get there this season, or is this a problem for season 3?
We are getting there this season. I feel like this season is only a microcosm of the show overall. Now, I don't know that for sure, I don't know the end of the show. No one does, but [Manifest showrunner] Jeff Rake. We don't know the answers to these big questions that the show has presented. But I will say that the biggest thing that can happen to a person -- almost all of the biggest things that can happen to a person in their lifetime happens to Zeke this season. So yeah, this season plays out over the course of those eight months.
Characters like Ben are currently trying to fight the death date, but how do you think Zeke feels about it though? Do you think he's accepting it?
I think, yes. I mean, he struggles with it during the season, and he does make some decisions later. I think that's an interesting observation, and maybe, I don't want to say too much, but you're right, and it's going to be interesting to see how those two differences and goals and decisions and viewpoints about the death date, how they change the end result of people's journeys. I don't know the answer to that question, because we don't know the end journey of any of these characters and how they play out over time. I've thought about that too, and I think there might be something there, and like I said, I don't know the answer.
So far this season, we've seen Zeke mostly in scenes with Michaela. Are we going to see him interacting more with some of the other characters?
Yeah, for sure, we have some more stuff with Jared, there will be some stuff with the [Stone] family, and more stuff with Zeke's previous relationships. The majority of the stuff is with Michaela, because they have so many shared Callings and they started this relationship, and he plays a strong and important role in the storylines of all the characters, especially with Cal, and the family overall, as well.
Let's talk about what Zeke will be dealing with this season. So far, it looks like his arc about redemption.
I agree, he continues on this path, making amends and I think that's a big part of the overall theme of the show. Redemption, you can even say salvation. Because we talk about the show being so much about science versus religion. Yeah, also dealing with this relationship with Michaela and some of the issues that come up in regard to that. Like I said, there's people from his past that come back into it to create all kinds of other conflicts and issues, and then this looming death date that's coming, and the stakes continue to get higher and higher as the clock ticks down, and that affects all of his decisions and the decisions of the people who love him and how they live their lives in regard to him, so there's a lot of compelling stuff coming.
Aside from his romantic relationship with Michaela, we touched on this earlier, but are we going to learn more about the other, bigger connection that they share this season? The one that was introduced in season 1.
Yeah. It's tried and tested many times, and if it was just a normal romantic relationship, I don't think it would have survived some of the things that come up this season but because they have such a strong, supernatural connection to each other and they share the Callings and they share the experiences of basically leaving time and coming back. They have so much a stronger bond than they would outside a normal romantic relationship. It continues to come up through the season. I feel like he's in a life-threatening situation every episode. He's always involved in these harrowing scenarios and a lot of that, if not all of that, comes out of the Callings which he and Michaela share, so they're constantly being pulled together in that way as well, outside of the romantic relationship they have.