'Manifest' Fans Are Desperate to Know the Truth About Zeke's Fate on the Show
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With each passing day, we're slowly coming to terms with the tragic news that NBC has canceled Manifest. But what we're still having a hard time accepting is that we may never truly figure out the fate of one of the show's main characters, Zeke (Mike Long).
Perhaps more than any other person on the series, Zeke's journey has left viewers both amazed and confused. It's likely because his backstory is unlike any other character's — despite not being on Flight 828, he was chosen for resurrection and drawn to the Callings (a.k.a. visions and voices that prompt action).
When we first meet Zeke, we see him purchase a magazine with a tribute to Flight 828 on the front cover. While holding onto the magazine and going for a hike, Zeke suddenly encounters a terrible blizzard. While doing everything he can to stay warm and survive in a cave, he pulls out the magazine and uses a picture of Michaela Stone (Melissa Roxburgh) as a way to stay alive.
Though Zeke did in fact freeze to death in the cave, like the 828 passengers, he was resurrected a year later. Luckily, Zeke catches a break when Michaela's nephew, Cal (Jack Messina), makes it his mission to help him out. This leads to Michaela and Zeke meeting up and beginning a joint journey that includes romance, Callings and trying to crack the code on Death Dates.
So did Zeke die in Manifest or does he beat his Death Date?
Now here's the interesting part. Despite each passenger getting their own Death Date, which is determined based on how much time passed between the person's original death and resurrection, Zeke does manage to miraculously beat his Death Date and survive in season 2.
How is it possible, you ask? It's believed that Zeke's commitment to following the Callings resulted in him beating the Death Date. The weird thing is though, now that Zeke has conquered his Death Date, he no longer has Callings and instead has developed intense empath skills.
At the very end of the season 3 finale — which, unfortunately, sounds like the end of the Manifest series forever — we're still left wondering what will happen to Zeke and Michaela in the future. Even though Zeke and Michaela are married, it seems as though the show was setting us up for another love triangle between Zeke, Michaela and Michaela's ex-boyfriend Jared (J.R. Ramirez). Manifest showrunner Jeff Rake seemingly confirmed this in a chat with TV Insider, hinting that season 4 was going to complicate things for the trio.
"I don’t think that Zeke is going to throw in the towel so easily and I think that Michaela is deeply conflicted," he explained before the cancellation news broke. "We’re gonna watch that conflict play out. It would be too easy for the story and it would be too easy for those characters to walk away from that marriage."
In other words, it sounds like Zeke was bound to survive at least a little while longer in season 4. As for his ultimate fate, as a person that survived his Death Date, we might never fully know the true story. Unless, of course, like Zeke's miraculous survival, Manifest somehow gets a resurrection of its own.
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