Manifest season 3's cliffhanger ending sets up a scenario where the Flight 828 passengers meet not one, but two versions of Captain Daly.

Manifest has set up a scenario where the passengers could meet two different versions of Captain Daly in season 4. Played by Frank Deal, the pilot of Flight 828 mysteriously disappeared in a season 1 episode and didn’t return until the final minute of the season 3 finale. His appearance in the episode indicated that the nature of Captain Daly’s shocking return will be a major mystery when the show’s fourth and final season kicks off.

While Grace’s death and the situation with Cal are sure to preoccupy Ben (Josh Dallas) and the others at the beginning of Manifest season 4, these are far from the only matters that the passengers will have to attend to in the episodes to come. Among the many issues they’ll have to explore is what Dr. Gumpta (Mahira Kakkar) experienced at Eureka after Ben and Saanvi (Parveen Kaur) dealt with the tailfin. Somehow, Captain Daly warped into the cockpit of the Flight 828 wreckage. “Help me” was all he could say before he vanished as quickly as he had appeared. The episode ended without teasing what Dr. Gumpta will do, or what the passengers will make of the unexplained incident.

What happened in the finale alluded to the idea that Manifest is gearing up to finally address Daly’s fate and the events of his season 1 disappearance. However, a detail in the finale hints that things aren’t at all what they may seem. The show could instead head in a different direction and dig even deeper into its time travel connections, which have been growing stronger as the story has progressed. Here’s why there’s a strong possibility that two versions of Captain Daly will make appearances in Manifest season 4 and what this could mean for the show’s overarching mystery.

When Captain Daly & Fiona Are Supposed To Return

Not long after coming back from their five-year absence, Captain Daly disappeared for a second time, but this time it was on purpose. Driven by his determination to prove he wasn’t responsible for what happened to Flight 828, Daly kidnapped fellow passenger Fiona Clarke (Francesca Faridany) and used another plane to recreate the conditions of their original disappearance by flying directly into a dark lightning storm. At first, Ben thought the plane was shot down by the military, but their lack of openness on what transpired implied that Daly actually accomplished his goal. If that’s the case, Daly and Fiona really did disappear. Before vanishing into the storm, Daly said, “see you in 2024”, which means he expects to be gone for another five and a half years.

Daly’s assumption is that his efforts will allow them to duplicate the Flight 828 situation perfectly, all the way down to the time they were gone the first time. If he’s right about that, Daly and Fiona should re-enter the picture just in time for the passengers to face their dreaded Death Date on June 24, 2024. So regardless of what happened in the season 3 finale, Daly should be back – by his own calculations – before the series ends. Presumably, Manifest season 4’s ending will line up with the Flight 828 passengers’ Death Date. Getting past it should be their final trial before the show wraps for good.

Manifest Season 3’s Captain Daly May Be From The Past

After the season 3 finale, some thought Captain Daly had come back early. That wouldn’t be implausible, but the circumstances of his arrival in Eureka suggest otherwise. It’s important to note that Fiona wasn’t at his side, and secondly, Daly was wearing his pilot uniform, which he certainly didn’t have at the time of his disappearance in season 1’s “Contrails”. This hints that Daly’s role in the finale isn’t actually linked to what happened before. Instead, what Dr. Gumpta may have witnessed was the brief appearance of a time-traveling Captain Daly from sometime between 2013 and 2018. Season 1’s Daly may not have come back yet.

All along, there have been theories that time travel is heavily involved in the show’s central mystery. There have been various clues that point to the possibility of Flight 828 traveling in time, the biggest of which being the revelation that the plane was spotted by 16th-century explorer Yusuv Al-Zuras. With this in mind, it’s possible that Captain Daly – as well as the other passengers – blinked in at different periods in time. If so, this would mean that Daly secretly showed up in 2021 and saw Dr. Gumpta before kidnapping and disappearing with Fiona in early 2019. For that to occur, Daly must have lost his memories of what happened while they were gone.

Can The Two Versions Of Captain Daly Meet In Manifest Season 4?

The Manifest season 3 finale’s ending teased some heavy science fiction elements for its next story by aging up Cal and bringing back Captain Daly in such an unexpected way. Thus far, the show has hinted at time travel but mostly avoided any direct confirmation. Instead, many of the characters are convinced that resurrection and divine intervention are at the heart of what’s really going on. Based on how season 3 ended, the show is poised to put an end to this theory completely, as it’s becoming increasingly clear that Manifest is in fact a time travel story. If what’s happening with Daly is any indication, that idea will be on full display in season 4. With season 1’s Daly presumably coming back in 2024 and a time-traveling Daly from the past popping up in Eureka, two different stories involving his character are very likely to play out in season 4.

Since the return of season 1’s Daly and Fiona is expected to happen close to the Death Date, the two versions of the Flight 828 pilot may not ultimately cross paths in the series. The arc teased by the season 3 finale could wrap up ahead of his arrival. Alternatively, Manifest could really complicate matters for Daly (and the passengers) by having their stories collide in a wild time travel twist. This could happen, especially if the show doesn’t want to reserve the present-day Daly’s return for the end of the series.

He could come back into the fold in time to play a major role in Manifest’s final season. Daly thinks he’ll be back in 2024, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that so much has been learned about the Callings since he left. They know from other disappearances that not everyone goes missing for the same length of time, case in point being the situations with Al-Zuras and his crew, Zeke, Griffin, and the three meth addicts. So in short, Captain Daly could theoretically come back at any time. It could be in 2024 like he suspected, or it could be as soon as the Manifest season 4 premiere. All sorts of time paradox problems could be presented if that were to happen before the time-traveling Captain Daly goes back to his correct place in the timeline.

More: Manifest: Cal's Season 3 Ending Could Lead To An Al-Zuras Appearance