NBC’s Cancelled Cult Sci-Fi Series Officially Returns With New Netflix Spin-Off in 2027

Published Oct 21, 2026, 9:30 PM EDT

Makuochi Echebiri is a News Writer for Collider.  He has been interested in creative writing from as far back as high school, and he would consume pretty much anything that’s film or TV. However, his truest love lies in the presence of historical epics and thrillers.

Lured by the brilliance of Middle Earth from an early age both in print and on screen, his palate has since expanded to other realms including Westeros, Kattegat among others. He also possesses a great appetite for the stories that emanate from the vastness of space. Even though he is no Avenger.

Obsessed with storytelling and having works of his own that have yet to make it to print, he is content to use that ability to communicate to as many as are reachable. In his spare time, he looks out for avenues where he can aid people aside from his plans to reign over this earthly realm. Yes…you heard that first here.

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As far as experiences go, very few things can come close to how it feels when things go catastrophically wrong when aboard an airplane. Several stories have explored that premise, from classics like Harrison Ford's action thriller Air Force One, Cillian Murphy's 2005 film Red Eye, and more recent entries like the first season of Hijack starring Idris Alba and Apple TV's high-budget miniseries Masters of the Air. Despite the aforementioned titles all holding significant appeal, albeit with distinct storylines, none of them comes close to the bizarre premise upon which NBC's fan-favorite series, Manifest, was set.

NBC premiered Manifest in 2018, and it came with a unique premise. Passengers had boarded a flight from Jamaica to New York City, but during the course of the flight, they experienced a period of intense turbulence. Ultimately, they land in New York to discover a horrifying truth: they were all presumed dead as their plane had taken off more than five years ago. Starring Melissa Roxburgh and Josh Dallas in leading roles, Manifest quickly built up a loyal following during the course of its three-season run. Ultimately, NBC decided to pull the plug on the series in June 2021 because it no longer fit the network’s ratings model. Streaming service Netflix stepped in and saved the series and onboarded the platform; Manifest and the story of Montego Air Flight 828 skyrocketed up the charts.

Despite already saving the series by offering it a home, Netflix has already announced plans to further expand the Manifest universe. In late August 2026, the streaming service announced a Manifest spin-off,Arrivals: A New Manifest Mystery, had been greenlit. Jeff Rake, who created the original series, returns to executive produce, co-create, and co-showrun the series with Margaret Easley and Laura Putney, both of whom are veterans of the original show. Now, per What's On Netflix, it has been revealed that Arrivals will have cameras rolling in January 2027. Latest production listings have the spin-off set to film in Vancouver, British Columbia, from January 19th, 2027, to June 9th, 2027.

Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars

Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you'd actually make it out of alive.

💊The Matrix

🔥Mad Max

🌧️Blade Runner

🏜️Dune

🚀Star Wars

TEST YOUR SURVIVAL →

01

You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.

APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it. BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don't keep you alive. CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who's pulling the strings. DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it. EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can't fix a broken galaxy alone.

NEXT QUESTION →

02

In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.

AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don't need resources — you can generate them. BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it. CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity. DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on. EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely.

NEXT QUESTION →

03

What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you're honest about what you're actually afraid of.

AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant. BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left. CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you're a problem, you're already out of time. DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn't even know I was playing. EThe Empire tightening its grip until there's nowhere left to run.

NEXT QUESTION →

04

How do you deal with authority you don't trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.

ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it. BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better. CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy. DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can't beat a system you refuse to understand. EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen.

NEXT QUESTION →

05

Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn't just tactical — it's physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.

AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters. BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest. CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions. DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand. EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire's attention rarely reaches.

NEXT QUESTION →

06

Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.

AA tight crew of believers who've seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose. BOne or two people I'd trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks. CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities. I work alone unless I have no choice. DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last. EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts.

NEXT QUESTION →

07

Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they're actually made of.

AI won't harm the innocent — even the ones who'd report me without hesitation. BI do what I have to to protect the people I've chosen. Everything else is negotiable. CThe line shifts depending on who's asking and what's at stake. DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people's future, even if it'd help now. ESome lines, once crossed, can't be uncrossed. I know which ones they are.

NEXT QUESTION →

08

What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.

AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it. BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving. CAnswers. Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out. DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations. EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else's boot.

REVEAL MY WORLD →

Your Fate Has Been Calculated You'd Survive In…

Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.

The Matrix

You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You're a systems thinker who can't help but notice the seams in things.

• You're drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
• You'd find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines' worst nightmare.
• You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
• The Matrix built an airtight prison. You'd be the one probing the walls for the door.

Mad Max

The wasteland doesn't reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That's you.

• You don't need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
• You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you're good at all three.
• You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
• In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.

Blade Runner

You'd survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.

• You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
• In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
• You're not a hero. But you're not lost, either.
• In Blade Runner's world, that distinction is everything.

Dune

Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.

• Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they're survival tools.
• You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
• Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You'd learn its logic and earn its respect.
• In time, you wouldn't just survive Arrakis — you'd begin to reshape it.

Star Wars

The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn't have it any other way.

• You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
• You'd gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire's grip can be broken.
• You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn't something you're capable of.
• In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

Meet the Characters for 'Arrivals: A New Manifest Mystery'

While the episode count has not been released, they are listed as running at around 60 minutes each. Character breakdowns have also been made available, introducing some of the key figures. Zoe is our social worker lead, who is smart, compassionate, and courageous, despite growing up in the foster system. There is Mike Deaver, a former Air Force helicopter pilot who now works for the Department of Homeland Security. Billy is Zoe’s wealthy, charming ex-boyfriend with Sloane is a tough, loving, resourceful, and cautious character who also has a pulmonary condition that requires an inhaler. Wes and Selena are a pair of characters with history together, with Wes living off the grid with Sloane and Joe, whom he has raised for years. The aforementioned characters are series regulars. Director Gary Bolton, a by-the-book DHS director, and Francisco, a hardworking family man, are the only characters in the recurring cast. The logline for Arrivals reads:

"When a mysterious plane crash-lands in Denver, the passengers emerge with no memory of who they are, where they came from, or why they’re here. A young social worker and a novice Homeland Security agent team up with the new arrivals in an attempt to stop a humanity-ending catastrophe, discovering along the way that they are all part of the very puzzle they’re trying to solve."

Arrivals: A New Manifest Mystery is in development at Netflix; no release date has yet been announced. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.