As the platform continues to hemorrhage subscribers, Netflix can’t seem to find a foothold in the streaming world.
While it inarguably spearheaded the streaming era we are currently living in, Netflix has failed — time and again — to keep up with the competition. A few shining wins in the vein of Stranger Things aren’t enough to distract subscribers from the platform’s slew of unpopular decisions, from preventing family sharing to its ongoing vendetta against its own fantasy offerings.
That vendetta has seen a shocking number of shows — nearly 30 in the last three years alone — receive premature cancelations, despite eager fan followings and, in some cases, sky-high viewership numbers. So if viewership and actual, concrete numbers aren’t enough to save a show from Netflix’s ax, what is? A few lingering users might have the answer, in the form of a new, but already popular, petition.
Netflix has been the target of plenty of petitions over the years, as viewers fight for their favorite shows and urge the platform to make better creative decisions, but this one might just be different. That’s because, rather then leaning on the typical motivations behind these pleas, Manifest fans have their sights set on an alternate target.
A fresh Change.org petition is, instead of fighting for a fresh season of the surreal drama, simply pushing to get more Manifest-adjacent stories on the platform. After fighting for, and successfully obtaining, a final, conclusive season of the series, Manifest fans are instead focused on convincing Netflix that a spin-off is a worthwhile investment. The petition, which already has 1,130 of 1,500 signatures after less than 24 hours on the site, pleads with Netflix to “green light a Manifest Spin Off!”
It also notes, in the petition’s description, that show creator Jeff Rake “said it himself that the conclusion could very well lead itself to a #ManifestSpinOff,” and that’s exactly what fans are demanding.
The altered approach to convincing Netflix might just work to see a Manifest spin-off come to fruition, but will it be worth it? Even if the platform gives a spin-off the green light, it’s unlikely to last long, given Netflix’s propensity for cancelations. With a show like Manifest, which spurs new questions with each fresh episode, it would be brutal to give fans what they want, only to snatch it away after a single season.