The Death Date is the date that a resurrected person faces their second death happening the exact amount of time that had passed between their original death and their resurrection.
Overview[]
The exact Death Date depends on the person who was resurrected and exactly how long they were gone. For example, James Griffin was dead for exactly 82 hours and 8 minutes and his Death Date was exactly 82 hours and 8 minutes later.
As a person approaches their Death Date, their bodies begin showing signs of their original cause of death, such as Zeke Landon starting to get frostbite due to his original death being frozen in a cave during a storm, and Jace, Pete and Kory coughing up water after having drowned. The Stones and Saanvi Bahl experienced a "preview" of their upcoming deaths in the form of shortness of breath from Flight 828's destruction.
It is possible to avoid the Death Date and gain a new lease on life, one apparently without a Death Date at the end of it. In Zeke's case, as his Death Date came upon him, after following the Callings and saving Cal Stone when he fell into a frozen lake Zeke dies and resurrects in a glowing light with all signs of his frostbite vanishing. At the same time, Flight 828's tail fin vanishes and reappears in the waters off of Cuba where the plane most likely went down. This causes the Stone family to conclude that they must follow the Callings to avoid their own Death Date.
As his Death Date approaches, Jace becomes convinced that the resurrections are all tied to Cal and that killing him will make it so that he can't die. Jace, Pete and Kory undergo the Last Trial following their resurrection and Pete and Kory pass while Jace fails. As a result, Jace drowns on dry land while Pete and Kory's injuries instantly heal. However, as the three men were being judged together, a shadowy figure rises from Jace's body and causes the other two men to die as well. Ben later calls it Jace's soul. Michaela describes it as Jace’s evil sucking the life out of the other two.
When the Flight 828 passengers underwent their trial, which took place on the restored plane, those whose evil deeds automatically condemn them burn to ash, presumably the fate that they would've suffered in the plane's destruction. Eagan Tehrani is able to save Adrian Shannon from this fate by taking Adrian's burning onto himself. In turn, Eagan's selfless act causes him to survive the judgment. Saanvi Bahl nearly burns up as well for her murder of the Major, but it stops at the last second, Saanvi saving Cal's life apparently balancing her terrible act out. With the larger group, with only 11 out of the surviving passengers being judged to deserve to perish and the rest having performed incredible deeds by following the Callings, the remainder are allowed to live rather than everyone perishing like happened with Jace, Kory and Pete. The passengers are then given a second chance and returned to where and when they were supposed to be with a second chance at life. In addition, everyone who had died along the way is resurrected, aside from those who had failed the trial. The passengers are de-aged back to their appearance at the time of their deaths, but retain their memories (aside from Cal) and other signs of their journey, such as Saanvi still having a gunshot wound to her arm that she got just before boarding the plane on the Death Date.
Beating the Death Date appears to not only allow the person to survive, but results in them being rewarded as well. In Zeke's case, he was granted empathic powers. For the passengers of Flight 828, they were sent back in time to when and where they were supposed to be before they died, creating a new timeline where they are given a chance to live out the 5 1/2 years they originally lost. The people who had been resurrected but didn't make it to the Death Date were resurrected again and given this second chance as well while Cal's memories were wiped, allowing him to enjoy the childhood that had been taken from him. Only the surviving passengers remember the disappearance and 5 1/2 years from the original timeline.
History[]
The first known example of someone facing their Death Date is when James Griffin was resurrected after he drowned in his getaway van in the East River. Exactly 82 hours and 8 minutes after Griffin's resurrection - the exact amount of time that he was gone - he drowns on dry land.
Subsequently, Ben Stone realizes that the passengers of Flight 828, having returned after five and a half years gone, will also have to face their own Death Date. As Ben calculates the time that they were gone, Olive comes to the conclusion from the various clues that have cropped up over the course of the investigation into 828's mysterious disappearance and return that it is June 2, 2024 which Ben's calculations confirm. Cal also has a Calling about their Death Date falling on that same day. As a result, the Stone family and the other passengers begin seeking a way to beat the Death Date.
Following the resurrection of Zeke Landon, he is left with only a year until his own Death Date due to being frozen to death in a cave and returning a year later. As Zeke's Death Date approaches, he begins displaying symptoms of hypothermia and frostbite, presumably the symptoms that he got when he froze to death. Following the Callings, Zeke saves Cal from drowning in a frozen lake with Jace, Pete and Kory and dies. However, his actions in following the Callings and saving Cal apparently allow him to beat the Death Date as Zeke comes back to life in a glowing light and his symptoms of having frozen to death disappear. As later revealed, Flight 828's tailfin disappeared at the same time and reappeared in the ocean near Cuba where the plane had presumably gone down.
84 days later, Jace, Pete and Kory are resurrected from the lake that they had drowned in and are left with 84 days until their own Death Date. The three men are thrust into an ancient test known as The Last Trial where they are each given a chance at redemption and beating the Death Date. Like Zeke, the three men begin exhibiting symptoms of drowning as their Death Date grows closer. Although Pete and Kory succeed in passing their part of the test, Jace fails and drowns on dry land. Pete and Kory appear to beat the Death Date, their drowning symptoms vanishing and their injuries visibly healing. However, Olive discovers from an ancient parchment that as the three men were resurrected together, they are being judged together. Jace's failure to let go of his vengeance against Michaela Stone thus causes all three men to fail the Last Trial and a shadowy figure rises from Jace's body, grabs Pete and Kory and after they convulse briefly, they drop to the ground, dead once more.
It's later discovered that the passengers' Death Date is one for the whole world: the Apocalypse.
The night before the passengers' Death Date, Cal sacrifices himself to combine his Omega Sapphire with a piece of Noah's Ark. This sends out a beacon calling all of the passengers to one location. As an apocalyptic volcanic eruption begins, Flight 828 emerges from the ground, having also been restored by Cal. The passengers board the plane, deducing it to be the place of their judgement as Angelina and her followers try to stop them. From the Al-Zura's journal, Olive realizes that Ben needs to lighten his heart by forgiving Angelina for Grace's murder in order to survive the Death Date which Ben does after Angelina expresses remorse for killing Grace. Ben carries Angelina onto the plane which is able to launch when the lava hardens into a runway for them. In the air, the passengers all undergo judgment with the evil deeds of Angelina, Paul Santino, Randall Barr, Autumn Cox, and seven others causing them to burn into ash, the fate they would've suffered when the plane crashed. Adrian Shannon nearly suffers the same fate, but Eagan Tehrani selflessly offers himself in his place, causing Eagan to nearly combust before his selfless act causes him to be spared. Saanvi Bahl nearly burns up too for killing the Major, but hers also stops at the last moment, her saving of Cal balancing out the Major's murder. Once the trial is complete, the shadowy figure appears, and the passengers confront it. Deciding that their actions balance out the scales towards good, the figure allows them to live and stops the eruption, saving the world.
After the Death Date is beaten, Michaela and Amuta fly Flight 828 into the light that had been seen before the plane disappeared the first time. The passengers get off the plane and begin walking. They come across a door, which opens. Going through the door, it is revealed that they exited the jetway into an airport in Queens. The passengers soon realize they have been sent back in time to April 7, 2013, the day they first disappeared and were originally supposed to arrive, and then realize that they all have been given a second chance. Since they traveled back in time and find themselves at the time they originally were supposed to land, a new timeline is created where they arrive on time and get a second chance, while they are all deaged to how they looked at that point. All of the passengers who died along the way are resurrected, aside from Angelina and the others who weren't able to beat the Death Date, while Cal is restored to his childhood without any memories of the five and a half years that had passed. Only the passengers that survived the Death Date remember their disappearance and the past 5 and a half years from the original timeline. Getting back the 5 1/2 years they originally lost, the passengers that survived the Death Date begin to make use of their second chance.
Even though nearly all of the passengers who died along the way are resurected and are given a second chance at life, the same could not be said for captain Bill Daly. While he was brought back for a short time, it was only to face judgement for kidnapping Fiona Clarke as he burned up and exploded before he was even able to leave the plane, thus showing what his judgement would have been if he had been alive to face judgement on the death date.
Trivia[]
- Rendezvous reveals that the Death Date is actually the Apocalypse. Caused by Angelina Meyer misusing the power of the Omega Sapphire.
- Ironically meaning had Angelina been killed, this could have been averted. Everyone blew their chance to kill her.
- The final episodes of Manifest aired on June 2, 2023, exactly one year before the Death Date.
