Josh Dallas Was 'a Mess' Reading 'Manifest' Finale: 'Crying Through the Whole Thing' (Exclusive)

Josh Dallas talks with PEOPLE about the Netflix show's emotional series finale

Warning: this story contains spoilers from the Manifest series finale. 

The final season of Manifest has been a wild ride, and no one knows that better than star Josh Dallas.

After getting canceled by NBC in June 2021, the show was saved by Netflix in August 2021 when the streamer picked it up for a fourth and final "super-sized season,” split into two parts. The first premiered on Nov. 4, 2022 while the second hit Netflix on Friday.

“It was incredible,” Dallas tells PEOPLE about the show’s renewal by Netflix. “We thought we were going to have to say goodbye to those characters. We all felt super disappointed by the idea that we weren’t able to finish the story of these people, with everything that they'd gone through. So the fact that Netflix came in and saw something there, and of course, we found an even bigger audience once we got to Netflix, it was just icing on the cake.”

For four seasons, the show’s biggest mystery has been Flight 828 and the meaning behind the passengers’ numerous callings, and the ending really ties the show up in a way that offers a lot of closure for fans.

While Dallas notes that Manifest creator Jeff Rake “always had an ending in mind” for the series, the actor preferred to stay in the dark until the very end.

“I didn't want to know because I wanted to discover it along the way,” he says. “So I was super excited to get that last script and read it, and sad all at the same time. There was a lot of different emotions happening all at once.”

He adds that the final table read was super emotional as the cast dealt with not only the ending of the series but their time together.

“I was a mess,” Dallas recalls. “I was crying through the whole thing. Not only was I emotional about what was going on in the scenes with the characters and saying goodbye to them, but saying goodbye to my fellow castmates and crew. Those things are always super bittersweet, especially when you're with a group of people that you love and respect.”

After being put through the wringer the past four seasons, Dallas’s character Ben Stone finally finds some relief in the series finale as he and the rest of the Flight 828 passengers return to 2013, when their plane was originally supposed to land, and they are reunited with their loved ones.

“It's something that I'd always hoped for,” Dallas says of the full-circle ending. “For the characters, especially for Ben and Michaela, that they were given an opportunity to go back with the knowledge of what they'd been through and the gift of a second chance and to try it again and to live life in a different and better way.”

In addition to getting a second chance with their loved ones, several deceased passengers are given a second chance at life — minus 11 passengers who turned to ash in the plane’s final trip. While fans get a glimpse of characters such as Fiona and Violet, one character fans don’t see on screen is Captain Daly, who briefly returns in part 2 before meeting a bitter end at the hands of Angelina.

Related: 'Manifest' Trailer Teases Looming Apocalypse as Death Day Nears: 'The World Is Ending and We Know When'

When it comes to the Captain Daly mystery, Dallas teases there might be more to that story. “All I can say is that there was something filmed,” he says, before joking, “I hope I don't get fired for that. The show's over, I can't get fired.”

Though the series finale wraps things up nicely for most of the characters, it also leaves a lot of room for the story to potentially continue down the road, which Dallas says he would definitely be on board for. “130% yes,” he says of whether he’d return for a revival. “Any work that Jeff Rake writes and he wants me to say, I'm there.”

“I would also love to see that story,” he continues. “I would love to see where those characters go and how they move through the world knowing this information. I want to know what that world looks like and the ramifications of what they went through, how that affects them now back in 2013. I would definitely dive back in.”

As the show comes to a close and Dallas says goodbye to his character, he notes that he is keeping a little part of Ben Stone with him. “The only thing that I have [from the set is] his glasses. I have those at home.”

“I'll miss his drive,” he adds of what he’ll miss most about playing his character. “His drive was super human to me. It was very empowering to play someone that had that kind of drive. I think that drive got him in trouble in a lot of different ways, but it was quite extraordinary his resilience. But mostly what I'll miss about playing Ben Stone is just my fellow actors and crew members.”

As for the show’s lasting impact on fans, he hopes that Manifest inspires hope the same way that his series Once Upon a Time did.

“Once Upon a Time was 100% about hope and I think Manifest has that DNA in a big, big way,” he says. “Particularly with Manifest and Once, when you're talking about heroes or villains, it's always about there's never white or black, it's always gray. It's about the actions that you take that dictate whether you're a hero or a villain. There is something about both of those shows that speaks to that.”

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Manifest is now streaming in full on Netflix.

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