NBC's Lost Successor Was So Good, It Got 20 More Episodes After Being Canceled

Credit: MovieStillsDB Published Jul 17, 2026, 11:30 AM EDT Zach Moser has been writing for ScreenRant since 2022, covering movies, classic TV, and streaming TV. His areas of expertise cover a wide range of genres with a particular interest in horror and drama, and the conversations around the TV and film industry. When he's not covering the latest film releases or chronicling the latest season of a new show, he's writing humor pieces for McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Slackjaw, and Points In Case or working on short stories and his second novel. Sign in to your ScreenRant account NBC's Lost successor may not have lasted as many seasons as the ABC phenomenon, but it was good enough to earn 20 more episodes after it was supposed to be canceled. We still may not be far enough away from the Lost years to fully appreciate how much the series changed television. The ABC mystery drama from future TV titans Jeffrey Lieber, J. J. Abrams, and Damon Lindelof fizzled a bit towards the end of its run, but for the first three or so seasons, it's about the only thing people could talk about. Every mystery show, every puzzling drama show since Lost, owes something to the series. Some series are more obvious in their affections than others, like NBC's Manifest, a four-season supernatural drama that premiered in 2018. Created by Jeff Rake, Manifest follows the passengers and crew of Montego Air Flight 828, on its way from Jamaica to New York City on April 7, 2013. When they land, the 191 people on board the flight quickly realize something strange. It's the year 2018. Five years have passed, and the world has since declared them lost. The passengers' attempts to reenter their lives are complicated and difficult, made even more confusing by voices and visions that only they can hear and see. Starring Melissa Roxburgh, Josh Dallas, and Athena Karkanis alongside a large ensemble, Manifest was an intriguing, gripping mystery in a similar vein to Lost. However, after 3 seasons, NBC announced the show would be canceled. It was only Netflix taking an interest in the series that brought it another season with 20 episodes to wrap everything up. Why Manifest Was Canceled After Season 3 The news that NBC would be canceling Manifest was a shock to fans and creators alike, with a season 3 cliffhanger now left truly hanging. Rake had even originally sold Manifest to NBC with a six-season plan (via Deadline). Rake described the cancellation as, "...a gut punch to say the least." At the time of the cancellation, Manifest was available to stream on Netflix, where it was consistently reaching the top of the most-watched list. Twitter campaigns by fans immediately began, and without any official explanation by NBC, it seemed that the network was perhaps unaware of just how much interest there was in their series (via LATimes). Only a few months later, Netflix picked up the baton and ordered a fourth and final season of the show with 20 episodes. The final season of Manifest premiered in two volumes, with the first coming in November 2022, and the last coming in June 2023. Manifest Got Better Each Season Why NBC decided to cancel Manifest is unclear. The series may have had fairly pedestrian reviews for the first season, but each season afterwards was an improvement. As the show dove deeper into its mysteries, it proved itself to be a competently written and thoughtful series. Season 4, in particular, was a marked improvement, offering up a satisfying finale even with the writers having to condense three seasons into a super-sized single season. Despite Manifest's strange journey through network television and streaming, it actually ended up as one of the better Lost knockoffs. Release Date 2018 - 2023-00-00 Network NBC, Netflix Showrunner Michael Smith Directors Romeo Tirone, Michael Smith, Claudia Yarmy, Dean White, Marisol Adler, Craig Zisk, Joe Chappelle, Paul Holahan, Ramaa Mosley, SJ Main Muñoz, Sherwin Shilati, Andy Wolk, Bosede Williams, Cheryl Dunye, Constantine Makris, David Frankel, Félix Enríquez Alcalá, Jean de Segonzac, Laura Belsey, Millicent Shelton, Nathan Hope, Nicole Rubio, Ruba Nadda, Tawnia McKiernan Writers Jeff Rake, Laura Putney, Margaret Easley, MW Cartozian Wilson, Simran Baidwan, Matthew Lau, Ezra W. Nachman, Bobak Esfarjani, Marta Gene Camps, Darika Fuhrmann, Matt K. Turner, Sumerah Srivastav, Jeannine Renshaw, Amanda Green, Ryan Martinez, Margaret Rose Lester, Eric Haywood Creator(s) Jeff Rake