NBC has announced that the mystery of Manifest will continue for one more season, as the genre show has been renewed for a second season.
“In just its first season, Manifest has answered many questions about the mystery of Flight 828 and, smartly, asks many more,” said Lisa Katz and Tracey Pakosta, co-presidents scripted programming at NBC Entertainment. “Congratulations to [creator] Jeff Rake, our producers, cast and crew who have created an incredibly addictive series with compelling characters and complex relationships.”
Manifest drew the best premiere numbers of any new show this season with a 2.2 in the 18-49 demo and over 10 million viewers. Though the show’s robust Live + Same Day numbers dipped throughout the season, with its season finale hitting a 1.0, it remained an especially strong non-linear player. In Live + 7 delayed measures, it averaged a 2.8 and over 12 million viewers, with that total growing to a 4.86 in the demo after 35 days of multi-platform viewing.
Aside from episode count, the only question remaining for the series, which finished its 16-season first season in February, is where it lands on the NBC schedule next season. Staying post-Voice is likely out since NBC likes to use its reality veteran to get new dramas sampled, but their schedule is packed pretty tight, so there’s a possibility the show lands on Fridays or even Sundays midseason.
The renewal of Manifest means it joins Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, Chicago PD, Law & Order: SVU, The Blacklist, New Amsterdam, and Good Girls as NBC dramas getting an early pass to the 2019-20 season. Among the NBC dramas still waiting for a renewal decision are This Is Us, Blindspot, The Village, and The Enemy Within.
