Why we won't be getting Manifest season 5

2 Jun 2023

digitalspy.com

And there we have it. After four seasons and 52 episodes, the plane has officially landed and Manifest has reached the end of its runway.

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We know. We grieve. But given the turbulent journey it took to get here, the show's loyal fans can't be too hung up about it.

Initially, it was looking like three seasons and out for the supernatural drama after NBC, its original broadcaster, pulled the plug.

In case you need a refresher, Manifest's third season saw a sharp decline in viewership. While season one debuted with a massive 10.4 million people tuning in, season three kicked off with over half of that. By the finale, only 2.8 million viewers were interested enough to see the season through.

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Ratings are king in the world of TV and, sadly, those numbers just weren't good enough to convince NBC to keep the plane flying.

Netflix

The abrupt cancellation was a major blow to fans given season three's cliffhanger finale, and it sparked a tidal wave of #SaveManifest pleas on social media. Even the show's creator, Jeff Rake, joined in and called for a "new home" for the show.

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Thankfully, their prayers were answered just a few months later when Netflix swooped in to save the day, renewing the show for a fourth – and final – chapter.

"What started years ago as a flight of fancy deep in my imagination has evolved into the jet engine journey of a lifetime," Rake said in a statement at the time.

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"Never in my wildest dreams could I have envisioned the worldwide outpouring of love and support for this story, its characters, and the team who work so hard to bring it all to life. That we will be able to reward the fans with the ending they deserve moves me to no end."

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Netflix

While Manifest fans are surely grateful to Netflix for allowing Rake to tie up the series (a rarity given the streaming platform's bad habit for cancelling our favourite shows), he had originally planned for Manifest to span six seasons.

So it begs the question: why no season five? Or six, for the matter?

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Manifest's first three seasons were added to Netflix shortly before its cancellation. After it was cancelled, the #SaveManifest campaign drove its viewership up so high that it spent four consecutive weeks at number one, and stayed in the top ten for two more weeks after that. This, at the time, made it the third show ever to spend 100 days or more in Netflix's top 10.

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While these numbers were impressive enough for Netflix to pick the series up and renew it for another chapter, it's likely the streamer didn't want to run the risk of losing this momentum after season four and see a decline in viewership as it had done over at NBC.

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Netflix

Plus, Bela Bajaria, head of worldwide TV for Netflix, said they wanted to give Rake the opportunity to provide fans with some closure, even if this meant wrapping the show up earlier than he had intended.

"Jeff Rake and his team have crafted a beguiling mystery that has viewers around the world on the edge of their seats and believing again in second chances, and we're thrilled that they will bring fans some closure with this final super-sized season," she said in a statement.

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But, while his six season plan was condensed into a "super-sized" season four, Rake has assured viewers that the "endgame hasn't changed" (Entertainment Weekly).

This was probably the best course of action to take for the sake of the fans, anyway. Like we said, Netflix has bad habit for cancelling shows if viewing figures aren't up to scratch. If Manifest's numbers began to dwindle at Netflix like it did over at NBC, it probably would have been cancelled again. At least this way, all loose ends have been tied up.