The “Save Manifest” campaign is seemingly nearing the end of the road as Netflix is closing in on the conclusion of “complex negotiations” with Warner Bros. Television. Once all is said and done it will see a fourth season of the series premiere on the streamer. According to Deadline, WBTV has “started negotiations with the cast” and both returning and new writers for the shows fourth season. They also note that with talks now very far along with Netflix, NBCUniversal is no longer in contention to be the home for the new series (having previously cancelled the series earlier this year). The cast for the hit series saw their contracts expire back in June, meaning they’ve likely got a bit of leverage in this fresh round of negotiations.
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Manifest being swiftly cancelled and now back on the road to a new season is the rare success story for a series that was given the axe. NBC cancelled the series back in June and though a quick push was made to bring the series back on a streaming service even Netflix declined to produce the fourth season of the show. From there it seemed like things were doomed for Manifest but the fans, cast, and crew continued to rally around it, pushing it to a major boon in viewership and resulting in it dominating the Netflix Top 10.
As noted by the trade, one reason Netflix was seemingly hesitant at first about picking up the series is that they only have the US streaming rights to the series with WBTV having previously negotiated the international rights for the show before its first season premiered.
Series creator Jeff Rake has previously opened up plans for Manifest to be a six-season series when all was said and done but has seemingly altered his plans in the face of the cancellation and now revival.
“Twenty days after we’ve premiered on Netflix, I’ve kind of moved away from the plan of finding a home for seasons 4, 5, and 6 of Manifest, even though I’ve always talked about Manifest being a six-season show,” Rake told EW. “Back in the day, I laid out a six-season roadmap for NBC, and I’m halfway through. I had giant cliffhangers in the season 3 finale, so I had every intention to have three more seasons to slow-burn the back half of the story. I’m reading the writing on the wall that we may not find a home for three more seasons of the show, so I moved to plan B: Some platform would bankroll a feature or a movie finale, like we saw with Timeless, Firefly, and Deadwood. I just need a modest budget to tell the story.”
He continued, “I am personally sketching out how to consolidate the back half of the series into a much more streamlined, cut-to-the-chase two-hour finale that would distill all of the hanging chads of the series. That’s where my head is at. There is a huge appetite for people wanting to know what’s that end of the story, what happened to the passengers, what ultimately happened to that airplane.”
Check back here for more info on Manifest‘s new season as we learn more!
