On set of the apocalyptic Manifest midseason finale: 'A complete game-changer'
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Warning: This article contains major spoilers from Manifest season 4, Part 1.
Commandeering a church on Easter weekend is no easy feat. Add in the intent to trash it for dramatic effect, and it feels sacrilege. "We have a very tenacious location manager," says a playful Jeff Rake, said wrecker of said holy site.
It's "heaven and earth fighting it out," the creator of Manifest quips after the crew transformed St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Glen Cove on New York's Long Island. It's a beaming Wednesday afternoon in April, mere days before religious services begin for the holiday. Josh Dallas, a golden retriever personified (bright, spirited, warm), takes a sip from a smoothie in the church garden in between takes. His face, charcoal sweater, and olive green jacket are tarnished with ash and soot, a reflection of the ordeal inside the place of worship. Later in August, the Los Angeleno reminds me this was the rare moment when "we weren't sweating our asses off" in the East Coast heat. Nothing's hotter than hell on earth.
The team are filming episode 10 of Manifest season 4, the finale to the first of two parts that were greenlit by Netflix after the show's untimely cancellation at NBC a year earlier. St. Paul's is dark except for the trick lamps and pyrotechnics set along snaking green-screen rivers through the pews. It's all meant to emulate lava breaking free of the ground. The cause is Angelina (Holly Taylor), the 828-er who killed the wife of Dallas' character Ben Stone and kidnapped his daughter Eden last season.
Peter Kramer/Netflix Melissa Ruxburgh and Josh Dallas film the finale to 'Manifest' season 4, Part 1.
A lot has happened since then. The Stone family — including Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh) and her husband Zeke (Matt Long), Olive (Luna Blaise), and the aged-up (by miracle means) Cal (Ty Doran) — found evidence of a divine consciousness, the link between sapphire and whatever heavenly bodies exist above, and that dear Cal is a "dragon" capable of saving the world from ruin. But here's Angelina, holding the Omega Sapphire, a relic she's inadvertently using to jumpstart the apocalypse. Hence the lava.
It's the culmination of a series-long mystery that began in the pilot, when the passengers of Flight 828 mysteriously vanished for five years only to reappear as if no time had passed at all. They have all since experienced callings — voices, signs, visions, and the sort — that guide them to help others. With the Omega Sapphire, Angelina can now project callings into others' heads, as she does in this finale sequence. She casts an illusion of Michaela's dead friend to throw her off her path.
"That's a really powerful sequence," Rake says of the midseason finale church scene. "It's when Ben and Michaela really come face to face with the extent of Angelina's power. She has abilities that seemingly far surpass the abilities of the other passengers, which is humbling, terrifying, mystifying to our heroes. As a result, it's a complete game-changer as they come to realize what they're dealing with in terms of an adversary."
The characters are now questioning the mission. Ben long-believed there was some scientific explanation for what happened to them and their fellow 828 passengers. But, as viewers came to realize along with them in season 4 thus far, when they disappeared, it was because of this divine consciousness. They were chosen for a reason. "Now they're standing here opposite this young woman, who is basically creating mini volcanoes in front of them," Rake continues. "She's like the devil incarnate." I laugh at that notion. "I got a chuckle out of you, but she may be the devil incarnate for all we know," he says.
Cal, using his own abilities to trap Angelina inside a calling in her mind, is able to shatter the Omega Sapphire, seemingly breaking this nightmare. Ben and Michaela ultimately choose to save the parishioners trapped inside the church instead of going after Angelina. And as the church crumbles, they assume their adversary, who's convinced herself to be some kind of avenging archangel for God's justice, is now dead. Angelina then emerges from the wreckage more powerful. She grabbed hold of a piece of the splintered sapphire and the burning lava has melted the stone into her hand.
Netflix A piece of the Omega Sapphire is melded into the hand of Angelina (Holly Taylor) on 'Manifest' season 4, Part 1.
The consequences of using the Omega Sapphire present themselves in the cracks that form in the ground beneath her. The more Angelina uses it, the closer she pushes humanity towards the apocalypse. "[Angelina] marches off into the night. Who knows what she's going to do next?" Rake says. "It's incredibly terrifying. That was one of the most pivotal sequences in the history of the series."
The 828-ers long believed the Death Date — the moment when a resurrected individual faces their second death — was about their own doom. Now they know it's the Death Date for all of mankind. Cal becomes the world's last hope. As the dragon, he's the most powerful of the 828 passengers connected to the callings and to the divine. The concept of the dragon came from Rake and the writers on Manifest exploring other religions and cultures to connect to their own Judeo-Christian-based lore. To use a common phrase from the series, it's all connected. It's the idea that perhaps all these different faiths of the world are all talking about the same thing, the same divine consciousness.
"We started getting into Chinese mythology, and we introduced the character of Henry Kim and got into this idea of Henry Kim and Cal sharing this dragon, and through that sharing this mythological link," Rake explains. Looking further down the line to Part 2, which consists of the remaining 10 episodes of Manifest season 4, he notes, "That [dragon] became important in this block of episodes and will continue to be important when we get to the final block."
It comes with a cost. Cal's survival hinges on Zeke, with his own empathic abilities, to feel the emotions of others and take on their pain. Part 1 of this season saw the return of Cal's cancer, and as the teen lays dying on his hospital bed, Zeke decides to save this would-be prophet by taking that cancer into himself. Though this show is known for a resurrection or two, Rake confirms Zeke is definitely dead. "We're not going to suddenly find him alive again in [episode] 411," he says, "yet the powerful bond between Zeke and Michaela is strong. The ability to stay connected with a loved one on Manifest is strong. So, let's wait and see what Michaela and Zeke can achieve, given those parameters."
Peter Kramer/Netflix Showrunner Jeff Rake and actor Josh Dallas have a conversation on the set of 'Manifest' season 4, Part 1.
The concept of belief has been lingering on Rake's mind. Manifest is clearly evidence of that. Conversations play out through characters over the course of season 4, Part 1 about individuals warping God's message for personal gain. Noting the non-volcanic chaos playing out in real time, Rake admits, "It's challenging in the world that we're all living through right now to get through the day without thinking, 'What have we become?' whether you're religious or not." Manifest is an escapist show, but the parallel in that sense is clear to Rake. "We're all just trying to find a way to a better place."
Dallas, this time less dirtied by flaming dibris, calls from another location in Long Island as he films the sixth episode of Part 2 in August. "We're hurdling towards the end," he mentions. "It's full on, as it always is. I'm all at once super excited and can't wait to get to the end and find out what happened to these people, but I'm also super sad to leave these people and this character. It's bittersweet." He's experienced that feeling once before, when NBC gave the show the axe after three seasons — about three short from Rake's original plan. But the showrunner reiterates this fourth season, which happened because of a surge of views from fans binging the whole series on Netflix, marks the flags he planted in the sand for the end years ago.
"The second half is much more about the community of 828 passengers," Rake says. "Without giving away too much, we'll be focused every episode on that larger community throughout the second block all the way up to the Death Date. It used to be 191 passengers. We've lost a few along the way. Now, will Ben and Michaela and Cal and Olive be at the center of that? They will be. We've talked about Ben and Michaela being the co-captains of the lifeboat of these passengers, and this final block will allow us to showcase them in that role more than ever, because they'll be interacting with that community of passengers every day, every episode."
If the crew can make St. Paul's look new again after raining down fiery destruction, there's hope for the Stones.
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
Related content:
