The popular Netflix series ‘Manifest‘ is a fun series with an exciting storyline. That’s why it had to be brought back even after cancellation due to fans’ demand.
The series is full of mystery, fantasy, and thrillers. It shows how the life of passengers of Flight 828 changed after they disappeared along with the plane and reappeared after five years of its original landing time.
Despite having many fictional elements and supernatural activities, many fans wonder if the whole series was based on a true story? Many fans have brought t own idea that Manifest was based on the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 which happened in March 2014.
So, did the disappearance of the pally happen? Was it based on the disappearance of the Malaysian flight?
First, we need to know what happened in the Montego Air Flight 828 of Manifest in the real-life incident of Malasiya Air Flight 370.
How are these incidents related to each other? Do they have similarities among them?
Montego Air Flight 828
On the show, Flight 828 is traveling to Jamaica from New York. The aircraft departed on April 7, 2013, carrying 191 passengers along with the crew.
In the first episode, we see that the plane encounters turbulence while on-air and had to land in New York.
The passengers were glad that they landed safely after the turbulence. However, they saw that within a few hours the world had aged by five and half years.
“The problem, ladies and gentlemen, is your plane departed Montego Bay, Jamaica, on April 7, 2013. Today is November 4, 2018. You’ve all been missing, presumed dead, for 5 1/2 years.“-Robert Vance
They see that their friend, families, and colleague presumed they were dead and moved on with their life. It also seemed like they got a new chance in their life. Even after landing and continuing with their lives, they face another reality that changes their life completely.
Malaysian Airlines Flight 370
Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 disappeared in March 2014. It is one of the most shocking and heartbreaking news to his date. The plane disappeared after it flew for 38 minutes.
Although the flight was out of contact, the satellite showed that the plane kept flying for seven more hours. The most heartbreaking thing was that the aircraft carried 227 passengers with 12 crew members. They were never found and presumed dead.
There were passengers from 14 nations and 12 crew members. Although various search operations were conducted, only a few remnants and wreckage of the plane are only found to date.
It is concluded that the plane might have sunk in the Indian ocean. As it was the last place where the plane was detected flying. The flight is believed to crash into the ocean and sank deep along with all the passengers.
No bodies were ever found. We can find different conspiracy theories related to the disappearance but the truth is yet to be known.
So, is the Manifest series related to the sudden disappearance of Malaysian Flight 370?
Manifest and Malaysian Flight- Are they related?
In the Syfy interview, the show creator Jeff Rake shed a light on that. If we look at the statements made by him in the interview, we would be able to know the real reason behind the making of this TV show.
“That flight has a pivotal role in my story but the truth to the matter is that I thought of that idea almost ten years ago. [We were] driving in a mini-van with my family to the Grand Canyon, thinking about family, togetherness, separation. The big idea hit me, I pitched it around, nobody wanted it.”
“[And] then, seven years later, Malaysian Airlines happened and suddenly my crazy idea felt a little more real, a little more relatable, in the context of Malaysian Air, suddenly people were interested.”– Jeff Rake
In the interview, Rake said that the idea and the storyline of the series Manifest came way before the disappearance of the Malaysian flight took place. On a family trip to the Grand Canyon, seven years before the incident, he observed the view of union and the separation among loved ones.
The narrative of the whole story was based on the family’s closeness and separation which we get to see in the show. He wanted to bring this idea to life, but during that time no one was interested. He propose his idea to different networks but he was unsuccessful.
After the incident of the Malaysian Flight, Rake’s plot idea started to gain interest. It provided him necessary reason to secure interest and approval for his idea to take place.
So, we can say that the idea for Manifest didn’t originate because of the sudden disappearance of the flight. The real-life incident did play a role in the development phase of the series.
Even if the show is not fully related to the shocking incident, it does remind us of how the flight disappeared till remains a mystery to this day. How no one knows what happened to Malaysian Flight 370.
Similarities in Montego Flight and Malaysian Flight Disappearance
We know the flight disappearance in the show Manifest is not fully based on the real-life disappearance of the Malaysian Flight. The real-life disappearance did encourage the making of the TV show.
We can’t deny some similarities we can see in both incidents. On both flights, we see a huge number of passengers carried by aircraft. The disappearance of both flights also remains a mystery.
Before the fictional twist came for the Montego flight, the disappearance was quite similar. In both incidents, no signs of casualties were seen. The disappeared plane and the bodies of the victim were never found on the Montego flight.
It can be said the same for the Malaysian flight. To this date, no traces of the passenger can be found. Only a few wreckages were found on the ocean floating.
Final Thoughts,
The storyline of the TV Show, Manifest isn’t directly related to any real-life incident. It was solely the idea of the series creator, Jeff Rake.
The disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 did make it possible for the TV show to exist. After the incident, many people showed interest in the production of the storyline into a series.
This made the Rakes’ idea take shape after ten years, on September 24, 2018. It was also the No 1 Netflix story, although, the series was canceled after Season 3, and many fans wanted it to continue. Twitter was flooded with the request to continue the series.
The desire of fans was heard and the production of Season 4 was continued. Recently a teaser video for Season 4 was also released. Good news for every Manifest fan out there.
