A major mystery that was abandoned after Manifest season 2 could be used to resolve some of the show’s biggest plotlines. One of the most perplexing discoveries ever made by the Flight 828 passengers was in season 2 when they discovered the journal of an explorer named Al-Zuras. Much to the shock of the main characters, Al-Zuras seemingly caught a glimpse of their plane in the 1500s, despite the fact that it took off in 2013 and landed in 2018.
Finding out about Al-Zuras was huge for characters like Ben because his predicament meant that the problems experienced by the passengers involved people at other points in history. Apparently, several other groups have disappeared and returned after considerable lengths of time, with no obvious explanation for where they went or what happened to them. Among the victims of this phenomenon were Al-Zuras and his crew in the 16th century. Like the passengers, they too received the Callings. During Manifest season 2, the series used Al-Zuras’ journal to provide some important developments. However, this mystery inexplicably lost its relevance.
In Manifest season 3, attention shifted to the emergence of the tailfin, Flight 828’s link to Noah’s Ark, the Lifeboat theory, and the idea that they were all resurrected. Ben and the others seemed to forget about Al-Zuras, even though he was so important to the show’s central mystery. He was only brought up a few times in season 3. That being said, where the show is currently headed may be a sign that Al-Zuras will soon be revisited in a significant way. Here’s how Manifest can rectify its abandonment of the Al-Zuras mystery and use it to end the series when season 4 releases on Netflix.
Manifest Season 2's Al-Zuras Reveal Explained
Thanks to online research and a deep dive into Al-Zuras’ journal, Ben, TJ, and Olive learned that Yusuv Al-Zuras and the crew of his ship vanished during a storm sometime in the 16th century. Al-Zuras wrote in his journal that he and his men saw a “silver dragon” flying overhead. A Calling shared by the passengers confirmed that the “silver dragon” was in fact Flight 828. What this indicated was that for at least an instant, Flight 828 and Al-Zuras’ ship coexisted in the same time and place.
For a reason that Al-Zuras didn’t understand, they returned ten years later with no memories of where they were. Not unlike the situation with the passengers, it was like no time at all had passed for them. After they came back, he and the crew members began to have visions, which the passengers identified as the Callings. Drawings in his journal revealed that despite the amount of time that separated them, Al-Zuras saw characters and events from the present, including Saanvi.
In addition to the Callings, Al-Zuras and his crew also had their own Death Date. Somehow, they knew that they were living on borrowed time, but whether or not any of them made it past their Death Date was never explained. When TJ was reading about Al-Zuras online, he said that he couldn’t find any record of Al-Zuras’ death, so the passengers don’t know how his story ended. What they do know though, is that some of the crew members jumped overboard. Ben connected this detail to his Lifeboat theory. He speculated that they either killed themselves willingly or were pushed off by those looking to save the Lifeboat.
Why Al-Zuras Should Be Important Again In Manifest Season 4
The show’s exploration of Al-Zuras’ past took a backseat in Manifest season 3, but should be important again after everything that happened in the finale. Ben’s resurrection theory hasn’t been completely ruled out yet, but Cal’s sudden aging and Captain Daly’s unexplained return serve as hints that time travel – and not resurrection – may be the answer to the show’s biggest mysteries. That does seem likely, as it’s the only concept that can explain Cal disappearing and coming back five years older in the span of a few hours.
These events could be steps toward Manifest leaning away from the resurrection theory and focusing more extensively on the show’s forgotten time travel elements. That seems likely, especially since it’ll be hard for Ben and the others to continue ignoring that time travel is a factor in the Flight 828 mystery. Finally reaching that realization should cause them to take another look at Al-Zuras’ journal. After all, his entry about the “silver dragon” was the show’s first big time travel hint and a huge reveal in general. It had so many massive implications for the show that it was surprising that Manifest didn’t spend more time on it. The idea that the Flight 828 passengers traveled to the 16th century (or Al-Zuras traveled to 2013) wasn’t the game-changer that it should have been. But with time travel finally starting to emerge as a major plot device, it’s not too late for Manifest to properly explore it.
How Solving The Al-Zuras Mystery Can End The Show
Al-Zuras could turn out to be the key to Manifest’s ending. As noted above, the show made a point of saying that the characters weren’t able to find any details about his death, meaning that the plan could have been to save this information for a future story. That would make sense, considering that Al-Zuras’ fate could hold answers for the Death Date mystery. Investigating his past and figuring out what he did could help them understand what they’re supposed to do to survive. Based on what they read in his journal, Al-Zuras should have died ten years after his return if he didn’t stop the Death Date. But if he did figure out a solution, he could have lived until he died of old age. If that happened, that would be a tremendous discovery for the passengers and one that could provide hope for all their futures.
How he survived could give them all a blueprint for what they have to do until the end of the series. And other messages he may have left behind could serve as clues to how time travel is involved. Alternatively, the show may drop its biggest bomb yet by using time travel to bring Al-Zuras to the present. The 16th-century explorer coming to 2022 in Manifest season 4 could be the real reason why they don’t know what happened to him. This way, Al-Zuras himself could give them the answers they need to unlock the mystery of where Flight 828 went and how to get past the Death Date.