Audiences of Manifest can expect to see Zeke Landon of Matt Long reappear, though it’s unclear how many episodes he’ll appear in.
“I will be back for some of it, we’re just trying to find out the maximum I can do,” Matt Long said backstage at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Sunday. “I love the character in the show so much, but as you know, when the show was canceled I booked another show. It was a pilot. We don’t know what’s happening with it yet. It’s also a really awesome project. So we’re just trying to work out schedules. Everybody wants the best thing for everyone so fingers crossed it all works out for the best.”
Matt Long has a one-year contract as a series regular on the NBC drama pilot Getaway, which may enable him to do Manifest if the schedules are aligned. Josh Dallas, Melissa Roxburgh, J.R. Ramirez, Parveen Kaur, Luna Blaise, and Holly Taylor will all come back, as will Ty Doran, who will take over as Cal from Jack Messina.
As NBC dropped the show following three seasons, Netflix bought it back after a fan effort that had prior seasons of Manifest trending at No. 1 on the streaming service for months.
“It’s so surreal, it just doesn’t happen, right?” Matt Long added to the overwhelming fan support. “It’s just been the most incredible experience. I joined the show in episode 12 of the first season, and from the very beginning, it’s just been one of the most rewarding experiences in my career. I love my character so much.”
He continued, “After it was canceled, it was heartbreaking. But then we got picked up by Netflix, it’s so much more than we ever could’ve dreamed of. I can’t wait to get back to it and see everybody and be part of the story again.”
Matt Long, humbly, said he doesn’t know what’s driving the outpouring of fan love, but he praises the writing and the show’s “excellent idea.”
“I think everybody that watches it can put themselves like imagine what that might be like for themselves if they skipped five and a half years,” he continued. “Plus, Jeff Rake, the creator, has woven a really intricate, complicated mystery with characters that people can relate to. There are a lot of different people on the show a lot of different characters from different backgrounds. It’s also word of mouth; it’s people talking to each other and their friends and family, and we just got incredibly lucky that it was us that it happened to.” As of yet, no comeback plan for Manifest has been revealed.
