Does the World End in Manifest? [Spoiler]

Netflix’s ‘Manifest’ begins with the mysterious disappearance of Flight 828, which culminates in the events that lead to the end of the world. The passengers who had been missing for five and a half years before they reappeared in thin air search for answers that reveal a haunting truth about the future. They discover that for the five and half years that they were missing, they only have five and a half years remaining on Earth. They call it the Death Date.

At first, it appears that the Death Date is only for the passengers. However, further events reveal that this is also the date of the apocalypse when the entire world will be destroyed. This raises the stakes considerably because the passengers have to save themselves and have the fate of the world resting in their hands. If you are wondering whether the world ends in the ‘Manifest’ series finale, here’s what you should know. SPOILERS AHEAD

Rewinding Time: Resetting 2013 to Avert Doom

The mystery in ‘Manifest’ begins with time travel. The passengers of Flight 828 travel five and a half years into the future after they pass through the Glow. In any other time travel story, this jump would simply mean that they have to adjust to the new reality where they have suddenly reappeared after being presumed dead for the past few years. In ‘Manifest,’ however, things are not so simple.

Following their return to Earth, the passengers get visions, which they call the Callings. These Callings help them save lives and do good things. To understand why they are suddenly having these visions and what happened to them when they were missing, they discover that they have returned with an expiry date. When three methheads drown and return after 84 days, they have 84 days left on Earth. When the time runs out, they die. Zeke Landon, who disappeared for a year and only had one year left, gets a second lease on life when he survives the Death Date.

With this logic, the passengers deduce that they have five and a half years left. To live beyond that expiry date, they must keep the balance of good and bad things to stop their lifeboat from tipping over. At first, it thinks that the Death Date is limited to the passengers, but then, it turns out that it extends to the whole world. The repeated presence of symbols like a peacock, Juno, the Gemini twins, and the dragon tattoo on Cal’s arms leads to the date of the apocalypse: June 2, 2024. This date is exactly five and a half years after the appearance of Flight 828 and the return of the passengers.

When the Death Date was limited to the passengers, they knew how they would die. In previous cases of such people, they exhibited the symptoms of how they had died the first time. The methheads were nowhere near water but drowned on their Death Date. Zeke dies of hypothermia, which is how he died in the cave. For the passengers, it would be due to the lack of oxygen or burning to death. For the world, the symptoms of the apocalypse appear in the form of volcanoes.

It is discovered that volcanoes buried under the Earth have turned active. This causes fissures all over the city, with lava flowing through them. As the Death Date nears, more and more such cracks and crevices start to appear, and several calamities occur worldwide. On the day of the apocalypse, volcanoes beneath the Earth tear through the surface and emerge to spout lava and destruction on the world. This confirms that there is no saving this world, and it will be decimated.

Ben and the others assemble at the Storm King Mountain, where Saanvi had thrown the fragment of Noah’s Ark into the fissure. The figure that the fragment also contains sapphire, which can be connected to the sapphire in Cal’s dragon tattoo. A Calling revealed that this was the only way to save the world. When Cal and the Ark’s sapphire unite, it brings back the plane, which is boarded by all the passengers. It takes them back into the Glow, where the passengers meet their final judgment.

When they come out of the Glow, the passengers find themselves back in 2013. In this timeline, the plane never disappeared, and all the passengers, except the eleven who were turned to ashes for their bad deeds, have their lives restored to before their disappearance. In this world, the passengers remember everything except Cal, whose reward is the return of his childhood and innocence. However, the slate has been wiped clean for the rest of the world. Going back in time, the passengers and the rest of the world get another chance at life to do things differently, be better, and stop the apocalypse from happening altogether.

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