Warning: spoilers ahead for the second episode of Manifest Season 3 on NBC, called "Deadhead."
The third season of Manifest continued to explore the new kinds of Callings experienced by the survivors of Flight 828 as well as revisiting some of the biggest lingering plot threads from the Season 2 finale in "Deadhead," including the meth heads who didn't drown, Zeke who survived his death date, and Saanvi who accidentally murdered The Major, not to mention what the discovery of the 828 tailfin means for Ben, Michaela, and Cal. While all the various crises were unfolding, the issue of Zeke's survival came up between him and Saanvi, and the result is the question of whether his survival means Saanvi's death.
That's not to say that Zeke survived with the inexplicable desire to kill Saanvi. In fact, he was very helpful to her throughout "Deadhead" as he picked up on what she was feeling with the guilt "eating at" her so precisely that she actually commented on how strange it was. No, it's the fact that Zeke survived his death date by following the Callings that Manifest may have guaranteed that Saanvi isn't going to outlast the 828 survivors' death date unless good deeds are enough to save her. As she admitted to him in "Deadhead" after he started going on about following The Callings to survive, Saanvi no longer receives the Callings.
Basically, if following the Callings is the only way for survivors of 828 to survive their death dates, then Saanvi could die for good unless she finds a way to get the Callings back and start following them like Michaela and Ben. The good news is that the death date isn't exactly coming up in a week or so, and if anybody can find a way to solve a problem with a potentially scientific answer, it's Saanvi. As for what it means to Saanvi to have Zeke in on her secret now, actress Parveen Kaur shared with CinemaBlend:
We have this kind of shared experience now, which is great because Zeke was one of those characters where, I have a shared experience with Ben and Michaela and Cal, but Zeke not so much. And now that we both are not getting Callings, this kind brought us a little bit closer in terms of, we both have an understanding. And she also has a lot of guilt, she still has a lot of guilt and not getting the Callings. Even admitting it to Zeke was challenging for her... But it's nice having Zeke around because he's someone that I can share that aspect with because I'm already carrying so much.
Parveen Kaur certainly isn't kidding when she talks about Saanvi already carrying "so much" in Season 3 of Manifest! The guilt of killing The Major at the end of Season 2 was clearly eating at her all through the time jump, and it's not getting any better now that the mythology is starting to get even twistier and Vance is no longer around for her. Sure, killing The Major was an accident, but it did happen because of Saanvi, and with Jared on the case with NYPD, it may come back to haunt her even more. Now Saanvi has her own mortality to worry about without getting the Callings to follow and save her own life like Zeke did!
It may be hard to imagine Manifest without Parveen Kaur's Saanvi, as both the actress and the character have been key to the series since the beginning, but it's also difficult to ever predict with any certainty what will happen next on this show. Manifest creator Jeff Rake has already shared that he has a six-year plan for the series, which presumably means that some characters' fates are sealed, for those who will make it to the end and others who might not. When asked how much she knows about her character courtesy of that six-year plan, Kaur said:
I know what you know. [laughs] Well, I know what you will know, once we air [Season 3]. I don't know any more. … I like to just do it scene-by-scene. That's how I just take everything. I'm just a one-day-at-a-time, one-step-at-a-time kind of person because if I know everything, I find it so overwhelming. And so for me it's like I don't want to know. I want to get it piece by piece. One step at a time, one scene at a time. That's just how I like to work. I think if I knew I'd be like, 'What the hell?' Like it would take me away from being in the moment.
Viewers will learn more about Saanvi's fate after losing the Callings and killing The Major as Season 3 continues, but not even Parveen Kaur has all the details about what Manifest has planned for her character. The third season was still in production when we spoke about her character and what to expect in Season 3, so fans will just have to wait for answers as the season continues.
It's probably safe to say that Saanvi won't face her fate within the next few episodes, but Zeke's survival by following the Callings could definitely indicate that Saanvi either needs to find a fix for her own Callings or face the fact that her death date really will be her death date. See what happens next for Saanvi and the rest with new episodes of Manifest on NBC on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET.
