When Manifest first made its premiere in 2018, it quickly gained attention from viewers who love conspiracy theories. Many couldn't help but compare it with the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370.
Until now, the actual events of the missing plane is still unknown. Since Manifest is not based on this, avid fans are curious to know what really happened to the plane in Manifest?
And now that the show has released the second part of its final season, we're finally getting the answers we're looking for.
What Is Flight 828 in Manifest?
Flight 828 refers to the flight number of the plane that went missing on the TV show, Manifest. Montego Airlines Flight 828 took off from Jamaica on April 7, 2013 with a total number of 191 passengers and crew.
They were en route to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York when they encountered some turbulence, which caused a delay in their landing.
What the passengers didn't know, however, was that the turbulence was actually a time jump. As their loved ones waited for the plane to arrive, the passengers on board Flight 828 were presumed dead.
So when the plane landed five and a half years later, it stunned the whole world. How could a plane go missing and reappear five years later?
More importantly, why do the passengers on board the flight have the same appearance from when they boarded their original flight? Where did they go?
As the show continued for a total of four seasons, the group of passengers try to understand what really happened to them and their flight.
What Really Happened to the Plane in Manifest?
When the plane reappears, it felt like time stood still for all of its passengers. But for their loved ones waiting at home, life had to move on.
Some relationships have been affected by the disappearance, which others have trouble dealing with. As they scramble to find answers, the passengers on board Flight 828 start having visions and hearing things that they referred to as a Calling.
There have been several theories on what really happened to the flight. But as we learn in the finale, things actually got a little complicated.
Shortly after returning, the plane explodes. The plane was kept by the NSA to study why it disappeared. But because it exploded, there was nothing left to study.
Fortunately, some passengers were able to conduct different experiments on what happened to their flight. Saanvi Bahl (played by Parveen Kaur) is one of the passengers trying to piece together the mystery.
In the later seasons, Saanvi deduced that there was nothing special about them. The passengers on board Flight 828 were simply a random batch that got involved in a divine experiment.
When the plane first experienced turbulence in the original flight, Captain Daly (played by Frank Deal) flew into a blinding white light since the plane was surrounded by black lightning from every direction.
This split-second decision by the plane's captain turned out to be the best one. Otherwise, the plane would have been hit by the lightning and destroyed in a flash.
As it turned out, the plane was flown into the Glow, which is also known as the Divine Consciousness, a place where time and space work differently.
This also explains why the passengers have Callings when they return to the normal world.
When a piece of the plane washes ashore of Cuba, Ben Stone (played by Josh Dallas) encounters a recurring vision that the plane exploded.
This makes him believe that all of the passengers actually died and were resurrected. Ben welcomes this theory when they discover the plane's tailfin from the ocean.
The government created a secret project, called Eureka, which also discovered that the passengers who died after their reappearance had mysterious causes of death.
Take for example, Kelly Taylor (played by Julienne Hanzelka Kim), a passenger on board the flight who was shot to death. But in her autopsy, Kelly's body showed signs of dying from a plane crash.
This discovery further cements Ben's theory.
How Does Manifest End?
For years, the idea of a Death Date has always been teased throughout the show. It was always assumed that the Death Date, June 2, 2024, would be when the original passengers will lose their lives again.
But as it turned out in Season 4, the Death Date was a much bigger cataclysmic event than just their deaths. It turned out to be an end-of-times event for all of humanity.
The passengers realized that there will be catastrophic volcanic apocalypse that will destroy the planet on the Death Date. This was realized in Manifest Season 4 Episode 9.
So how does this connect to Flight 828 and the Callings? It turns out that the passengers who followed the Callings helped avert the Death Date.
In the series finale, Cal (played by Ty Doran) combined his Omega Sapphire with one of the pieces of Noah's Ark. This restores Flight 828 and the surviving passengers find themselves on board the plane as the world ends outside.
Inside the plane, the passengers go through the Last Trial, where their past crimes catch up to them. The 11 who were deemed evil burned to ash.
Michaela Stone (played by Melissa Roxburgh) and co-pilot Amuta Clarke (played by Leajato Amara Robinson) fly the plane towards the light.
When they get off the plane, the surviving passengers come across a door that opens for them. As they go through, they realize that they are in an airport in Queens and it is April 7, 2013.
This is their original arrival date from their flight from Jamaica. The passengers realized that they were given a second chance and regain the five and a half years they lost.
The other passengers who died were resurrected to have a second chance as well, but they don't have any memory of the events from before. The only ones who didn't survive are the 11 passengers who burned to ash in the Death Date.
But that's something the authorities have to investigate on.
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