Reportedly, the #SaveManifest fan campaign wasn’t the significant pull that drew Netflix to pick up the canceled NBC series for a 20-episode final season pickup. It was the secret number of viewers that Netflix doesn’t reveal to the public that made them aware of the potential future success of the streaming service.
“Fan enthusiasm is always great to see, but it isn’t the emails or tweets — it was all about the viewing,” Netflix’s head of global TV Bela Bajaria tells The Hollywood Reporter. “To save a show in this way, it has to have that fan viewing. I appreciate their passion and being connected to the characters, but the viewing is the thing that saved the show.”
The deal isn’t necessarily about the fans Netflix is acknowledging, but the streamer still relies on the support of its fan base to gain momentum. Because of the increased visibility, many people were more interested in giving the show a try. Of course, the streamer is pumping up the show’s reported $4M – $5M budget to make it “creatively fulfilling.”
“Netflix said they want us to continue making the show we’ve been making and if they can help with some extra bells and whistles to make it more compelling and spectacular, they want to be able to support that,” the show’s creator Jeff Rake shared. “But I think that it will still feel like the show people have fallen in love with. It’s going to be an incredibly visual 20 episodes, and there’s some important [location filming] that’s always been built into the roadmap.”
Manifest fans quickly organized a social media campaign at its announced cancellation, asking any possible avenues to give the show another chance. “I’ve had shows canceled before, and this is the first time that I experienced such a wave of support among the fandom,” Rake said. “A small group of super fans formed a Twitter group and said, ‘We got you, Jeff. #SaveManifest. The campaign is beginning.’ So before we even had a chance to lift a finger to figure out if we need a PR campaign to help save us, the fans rose and created this campaign and spread the word — which was incredibly rewarding and heartening.” Rake felt touched and thanked everyone when the show’s new series was finally announced. NBC attempted to correct their mistake of canceling the show by trying again to pick it up. But Rake claims that Netflix was the better choice.