The True Story Behind Manifest: Unraveling the Mysteries of Flight 828

The Enigmatic Connection

Despite the inclusion of several fantasy elements, many have wondered while watching if Manifest is based on a true story. The premise of Manifest centers on the strange vanishing (and sudden reappearance) of a commercial airline. For five years, the passengers onboard went missing from the world and returned without realizing that more than a few hours had passed. Lasting for three seasons before being abruptly canceled (and resurrected for a final fourth season by Netflix), Manifest involves a lot of personal drama as it shows how these people have to reintegrate with both society and their families.

Ben and Cal on the plane in Manifest.

Manifest's flight 828 passengers were understandably devastated to see how some of their loved ones had moved on without them. Not only that, but they also had to deal with the unwanted attention that came with their inexplicable plight. In a lot of ways, Manifest’s character arcs feel like a realistic approach to such a hypothetical scenario, but there are also a number of fantasy sci-fi tropes that complicate matters for them, such as the mysterious messages and prophetic visions known as the Callings that come from an unknown source. However, despite its fantastical elements, many parts of Manifest are inspired by a true story.

Ben, Michaela, and Saanvi talking in Manifest

Manifest's Inspiration: The Real Mystery of Flight 370

Manifest isn’t based on a true story per se, but it is partly inspired by the unexplained disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, which perplexed millions of people when the story broke in March 2014. On the way to China from a Malaysian airport, the plane disappeared and was surprisingly never found. There were over 200 people on the plane, and none of them have been found. Multiple governments worked together on search-and-rescue efforts, but nothing ever came of them. Some pieces of possible debris have since been found, but the real fate of Manifest's inspiration, Flight 370, remains an ongoing mystery, though investigators have their theories.

MH370

The Malaysian Airlines incident inspired Manifest's story. Series creator and showrunner Jeff Rake acknowledged in an interview on SYFY's official YouTube channel that Flight 370 plays a “pivotal role” in the show, even if he came up with the initial idea for Manifest before it happened. Rake says that the idea came to him on a family trip to the Grand Canyon while thinking about “togetherness” and “separation”. Several different networks rejected Manifest prior to 2014. However, when the Malaysian Airlines flight disappeared, his idea felt “a little more real”. Rake claims that “in the context of Malaysian Air,” interest rose in bringing Manifest's complex timelines and mysteries to life.

MH370 Debris

A Real-Life Tragedy Enhancing Fiction

The fact that Manifest is based on the true story and real-life tragedy of the missing Flight 370 seems exploitative when painted in a certain light. However, there are plenty of other movies and television shows that are based on unfortunate true stories. For example, the hit SHOWTIME series Yellowjackets is based on the 1972 Andes Flight disaster. Manifest frames its narrative around a tragic yet compelling event that forces watchers to wonder what they would do if they were in the passengers' places.

Journalists discussing a story in A Dark Reflection

A disaster like Flight 370, or the 1972 Andes Flight, could potentially happen to anyone, which only enhances the stakes in the series and makes it more real and relatable to audiences. In the end, art should reflect and refract elements of real life to transcend the sum of its parts. Manifest's Yellowjackets-style real airplane disaster inspiration makes the show that much better.

The true story that inspired Manifest has also inspired other films, TV shows, and documentaries. Journalists, documentarians, and fiction writers have all done their research and have their own theories about just what happened to Flight MH370 out of Malaysia. As a result, many of those theories have become stories on paper or film.

archive footage from MH370 The Plane That Disappeared on Netflix