NBC’s Manifest stars Josh Dallas (“Ben Stone”) and Melissa Roxburgh (“Michaela Stone”) were teamed up for interviews at the 2019 New York Comic Con, on hand at the popular event to promote the second season of the critically acclaimed drama. Season two is set to kick off on January 6, 2020 and Dallas and Roxburgh promised we’ll get an answer earlier on as to who was shot in the season one finale. In fact, that question was first up during our lively interview at NYCC.
Manifest season two will air on Mondays at 10pm ET/PT.
So, who gets shot?
Melissa Roxburgh: “You know what? It’s kind of anti-climactic. It hits the wall and then I just have to do a little bit of molding and we’re good. It’s crazy. No, if it was me then…”
Josh Dallas: “It hits Ben. He comes by to just check. He opens the door and boom!”
Melissa Roxburgh: “He does that sometimes. He’s really annoying because it’s always the worst timing. It’s like, ‘Ben! Told you so!’
Yeah, I think it’s the big mystery. We jump right into it. We’re not going to make you wait too long to find out. But, yeah, someone definitely gets shot.”
What’s happening with the Stone family? How are things going as the season starts?
Josh Dallas: “Well as the season starts of course Grace is pregnant. We don’t know whose baby it is. It could be Danny’s; it could be Ben’s. That’s an issue.
The death date is an issue because now possibly Ben might not live as long as he thought. He might not have the amount of time that he thought he would have with his family after already missing five and a half years of their life. And now a new baby which could be his that he could miss out on five and a half years of its life.”
Melissa Roxburgh: “But at least we get a baby in the show.”
Josh Dallas: “At least we get a baby in the show…so we think. So we think. Things are complicated at home. I think Ben opens up this season. For him it’s all about preservation and preserving the things that he holds dear in his life with this idea that he might die. He’s a very practical thinker so he’s going to make plans and start doing things to prepare for that death day, not only for him but for his family. And at the same time, he’s not going to fully accept it. He’s going to continue pushing forward and go on this journey, this dogged all-consuming journey of trying to stop the death date and also figure out the mystery of why they were on 828 and why did that happen.
I think for Michaela and Ben they both put a great pressure on themselves to be leaders and be responsible, not only for their family but for all the passengers. And I think that burden for Ben in particular – it’s self-inflicted – gets very, very heavy. I think it comes to a point where it just breaks. Something happens…things keep happening as we go through the season that he just cannot ignore anymore, and I think there’s a shift in his thinking. I think we’re to that point right now in where we’re filming the season, so I’m really excited to find out where that goes, where that takes him because there comes a point where what he’s doing is not helping him and it’s not helping his family. It’s not helping his relationships with his family.
So, things are going to change, and I think that critical, cynical, scientific mind of his is going to have to open up to different possibilities.”
Are there any scenes in the second season you’re really excited for fans to see?
Melissa Roxburgh: “All of it, really. I know that’s a terrible answer to that question but there’s a lot of climactic moments that fans are going to be surprised by, shocked by, for sure. There’s one lovely surprise that they get… I think even episode one is… Fans are going to love a lot of it. They’re going to hate a lot of it as far as being hurt, but every episode is packed with at least one thing for fans to take away.”
Josh Dallas: “I mean, every episode the characters have learned something about not only the mystery, the callings, the death date, themselves, the relationships, in every single episode. And it just pushes into the next. It pushes them to the next until it’s going to come hurtling towards the end of this season.”
