“Manifest” hopes to stick the landing in its final season — and star Josh Dallas (series protagonist Ben Stone) thinks there’s enough gas in the tank to fuel another takeoff.
“I believe [the series’ final episode] is … the perfect ending for these characters,” Dallas, 44, told The Post. “It’s terrifying, emotional and surprising. And, for Ben, for sure, it’s not so much an end as it is a beginning.
“I think it’s a beautiful jump for ‘Manifest the sequel’ if there’s room for one,” he said. “If [series creator/showrunner] Jeff Rake wants to write words to put in my dumb head and dumb mouth, I am there to say them.”
The last 10 episodes of “Manifest” premiere June 2 on Netflix. The sci-fi drama, which aired on NBC for three seasons, revolves around passengers aboard Montego Air Flight 828 — including Ben (Dallas), his young son Cal (Jack Messina) and Ben’s sister, Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh) — who land in New York City from Jamaica … five-and-a-half years after taking off. No time has passed for them, but it has for the rest of the world in the half-decade since Flight 828 vanished and all onboard were presumed dead.
“Manifest” stars Josh Dallas and Melissa Roxburgh as Ben and Michaela in the second half of the final season on Netflix.PETER KRAMER/NETFLIXInitially, the passengers and crew return as heroes and curiosities imbued with supernatural powers (“The Callings”) as they reunite with their families — Ben with his wife, Grace (Athena Karkanis) — but that eventually morphs into suspicion, fear and even hatred of the “828ers.”
As these final episodes open, Ben, Michaela and most of their fellow 828ers are being held (and experimented on) by the government in a closely guarded detention center. Ben’s son, Cal (now played by the older Ty Doran), his twin sister, Olive (Luna Blaise) and their baby sister, Eden are trying to cope at home — while evil Bible-thumper Angelina (Holly Taylor), who’s obsessed with Eden, remains at large and up to her old nefarious tricks.
The evil Angelina (Holly Taylor) is obsessed with Ben’s daughter, Eden, and thinks she’s her mother.Courtesy of Netflix“As a result of Angelina’s actions at the end of Part 1, Part 2 opens with the passengers under even more scrutiny and intense observation by the 828 Registry,” Dallas said. “They will find themselves in a situation of extreme isolation and surveillance, and The Callings are no longer there to investigate among themselves — and that’s going to cause major hurdles for Ben and Michaela and Saanvi (Parveen Kaur) to jump over as the ‘death date’ is rapidly approaching.”
Ben and Angelina “go on a very specific journey,” Dallas said.
“She really forces Ben to make some decisions, not only about what they’re all going through but about who he is and how he views the world and people, which is extremely important for his evolution.
From left: Cal (Ty Doran), Olive (Luna Blaise), Jared (JR Ramirez) and JR’s NYPD partner, Drea (Ellen Tamaki).Courtesy of Netflix
Ben and fellow 828er, Dr. Saanvi Bahl (Parveen Kaur), who’s working with him to solve the many mysteries in “Manifest.”PETER KRAMER/NETFLIX“I think Ben’s entire arc from the pilot to the final episode has been going from skeptic to believer. He’s struggled with that all the way through and his sense of identity has come into crisis many, many times throughout the series,” he said, jokingly referring to Ben’s “grief beard” as a measure of his mental and physical state.
“He’s not so much a man of faith but beliefs, and opening his eyes to something you can’t find in a book [but] is factual … to open his brain and his eyes and his heart to things that might not have a concrete explanation.
“This group of people came back where no time has passed but everything has changed,” he said. “I think that idea — the mystery and the human drama — is what keeps [‘Manifest’] so grounded and so intriguing.”
