Why are these cast members leaving the television show ‘Manifest’?

Manifest fans are currently celebrating after Netflix picked up the series for its fourth and final season. After NBC gave the series the ol’ chop from its schedule, everyone involved in the series from fans to cast & crew hustled their way to getting the series saved just under the wire by the streaming service. Unfortunately, however, the cast’s contracts for the series did lapse while waiting for a decision.

This means that the starring cast and those involved needed to renegotiate contracts in order to continue on with the show. It looks like we officially have a tally of who is set to return and in what role they return as well. A quick refresher, however, if you’ve never seen the television show. Manifest follows a group of airplane passengers, who somehow missed five years while in flight. (And also develop powers? Sure.) 

Who renewed their contract for Manifest? Which actors have left the television show in the interim? What can we expect from the final 20 episodes of the series? Well, one thing we definitely know going forward is that we’re in for a wild ride when Manifest returns. Here’s everything that we know about the actors who are coming back for the television show’s end.

Who is returning for Manifest’s final season?

When Deadline originally reported that Manifest was set to return for more episodes. The outlet confirmed that Josh Dallas & Melissa Roxburgh had closed deals to return for the series’ end. In addition, they also said that JR Ramirez was also believed to have locked down his place in the final season. The rest of the cast, however, was a bit less certain at the time.

Yesterday, Sept. 9, Deadline confirmed that others have renegotiated their contracts in order to finish out the television show. Parveen Kaur, Luna Blaise and Holly Taylor have all closed deals to board the new season for the beloved series. Jack Messina, who play Cal Stone, has exited the series alongside Athena Karkanis, whose character died in the season 3 finale.

Messina, however, is going to be replaced by Ty Doran, who has been upped to a series regular spot for season 4 of Manifest. Doran plays an older version of Cal, introduced in the season 3 finale of the television show. Yeah for weird sci-fi aging! At this point, we all just need to go with it because the mystery is something we need to explore. To do so otherwise? That way lies madness. 

What else do we know about Manifest?

Details on the series’ return are being kept under wraps at this time. According to Deadline, the actors were able to get sizable pay increases for the fourth and final season of the television show. Hey, they deserve it. All the actors for Manifest participated in the #SaveManifest campaign, which kept the series at the top of the Netflix charts for weeks, which led to the deal. 

When the renewal was announced, series creator Jeff Rake said in a statement, “What started years ago as a flight of fancy deep in my imagination has evolved into the jet engine journey of a lifetime. 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.” 

Rake’s main thoughts are currently about giving the fans a rewarding series finale that they so clearly deserve. He said, “That we will be able to reward the fans with the ending they deserve moves me to no end. On behalf of the cast, the crew, the writers, directors, and producers, thank you to Netflix, Warner Bros., and of course to the fans. You did this.”

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What do you think about the latest Manifest cast news for the television show? Let us know in the comments below.