- 5/18/2025
Death always gets its due! Join us as we recap everything you need to know before "Final Destination: Bloodlines" hits theaters in 2025. We're breaking down the twisted timeline, recurring characters, death's inescapable design, and all those spine-chilling connections between the first five films. Can anyone truly cheat death, or is it just a matter of time?
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're revisiting the deadly rollercoaster ride that is the Final Destination series.
00:06With Final Destination Bloodlines, the series is set to receive its first entry in 14 years.
00:16So, here's everything you need to know about the first five films to catch up in time for the 2025 sequel.
00:22Plus, a breakdown of what to expect from Bloodlines. Spoilers ahead.
00:26Maybe that's not actually coming for our family.
00:29Because that would be crazy.
00:33The Timeline.
00:34Like with any lengthy franchise, the Final Destination Timeline has become a bit convoluted.
00:39This doesn't make any sense.
00:40This doesn't make sense.
00:42Doesn't make any sense. Nothing makes any sense.
00:44Does that not make sense to you?
00:45Oh, yeah.
00:46The first film kicks off in 1999, later retconned to 2000,
00:50when high school student Alex Browning prevents a group of classmates from boarding a doomed airplane.
00:55Like, I don't know. I saw it. I saw it.
00:57The left side blows up, and then the whole plane just explodes.
01:01One year later, Final Destination 2 picks up with the highway pileup that initiates the sequel's chain of disastrous events.
01:07Look, there's gonna be a huge pileup.
01:10Death then jumps ahead to 2005 for Final Destination 3's Off the Rails wreck.
01:15No, it's gonna crash! It's gonna crash!
01:18Here is where things get complicated.
01:20The fourth installment, set in 2009, dropped the numbering and went for a unique title,
01:25The Final Destination, suggesting that it would be the final film in the series.
01:30Although it was the most critically panned, it also managed to be the most commercially successful,
01:35perhaps in part due to its 3D gimmick.
01:37And so, a fifth film was greenlit.
01:40It's not over.
01:41What?
01:42Final Destination 5, released in 2011, seemingly takes place after the events of the fourth film.
01:48However, the characters never reference the earlier entries, a trend set by former protagonists.
01:54I went online, looking for an explanation about what happened.
01:56Six years ago, a kid had a vision that the plane was gonna explode.
02:00Just like you did.
02:01Other small clues, like an easily overlooked flip phone,
02:04eventually lead to a shocking twist ending that turns the timeline on its head.
02:09As lovebirds Sam and Molly board a flight to Paris, eager to celebrate their new lease on life,
02:14they witness a disturbance on the plane.
02:16Turns out, this is Alex Browning warning passengers of the impending explosion that sets the first film into motion.
02:23What was that all about?
02:25A kid had a panic attack and wanted off the plane.
02:28He said he had some kind of vision.
02:29So, this makes Final Destination 5 a prequel, and the fourth film's events the most chronologically recent.
02:36But that is set to change according to the synopsis for Final Destination Bloodlines.
02:41Although it'll feature a prologue set in the 60s, when a woman witnesses the collapse of a building before it happens.
02:47Everyone needs to get off the dance floor!
02:48The story will then pick up in current time, with her granddaughter experiencing similar visions.
02:54It all started with Grandma.
02:55Death is coming for us because we were never supposed to exist!
02:59Series Connections
03:00So, how are the sequels related to one another?
03:03Apart from the Easter eggs we'll get to later, the films don't have a ton of storyline overlap.
03:08Claire Rivers, a student who beats Death's list in the first movie, does appear in Final Destination 2.
03:14She's recruited by that story's lead, Kimberly Corman, to help cheat Death's design again.
03:19You gotta help me.
03:20I don't have to do anything.
03:22But you beat it.
03:24In a key scene, the pile-up survivors realize they all have some cosmic connection to the characters in the first film.
03:30Even if just through pure coincidence.
03:32The teacher I replaced, her name was Val Luton.
03:35She was from Lana Abrams.
03:37She died in an explosion.
03:38Shit.
03:40The call about the train wreck that saved my life.
03:42That was the night I scraped up Billy Hitchcock.
03:45From here, the sequels become a bit disjointed.
03:49While researching premonitions, protagonists in the third and fourth films do learn about Flight 180.
03:54There are tons of articles about people who had a premonition about a disaster.
03:58They saved themselves.
04:01And then they died.
04:02However, this merely serves as a plot device to carry the story forward,
04:06offering some guidance to the shaken visionaries.
04:09They died in the order they would have if they had stayed on the plane.
04:12Unless someone intervened.
04:14And it skips it.
04:15Of course, the final sequence of Final Destination 5 overlaps with the first sequence of Final Destination.
04:21Despite only having minor connections,
04:23there is one fan favorite who plays a small but vital role in a number of entries.
04:28William Bloodworth.
04:29The series Mortician, played by the late horror icon Tony Todd,
04:33appears in films 1, 2, and 5 to share some interesting insights with the survivors.
04:38It's all part of death's sadistic design leading to the grave.
04:44Design.
04:45Bloodworth knows a great deal about the accidents, premonitions, and even the characters themselves.
04:50You have to follow the signs, Kimberly.
04:57How do you know my name?
04:59His omnipresence has even led to some fan theories that he's death itself.
05:03Though this remains unconfirmed.
05:05I don't make the rules.
05:08I just clean up.
05:10After the game is over.
05:13Through cryptic and menacing innuendos,
05:15Bloodworth provides some potential solutions for those hoping to defy their karmic fates.
05:19For every life, there's a death.
05:21For every death, there is a life.
05:24But the introduction of life that was not meant to be,
05:27that could invalidate the list.
05:29However, these methods never quite pan out.
05:32After all, Bloodworth is very clear that once you cheat death,
05:36you'll find yourself on the Grim Reaper's list.
05:38And in every case, he will come knocking very soon.
05:42You have to figure out how and when it's coming back at you.
05:48By Final Destination 5, Bloodworth has been promoted to coroner.
05:52Once again, planting mysterious seeds about death's design.
05:56Death.
05:59Doesn't like to be cheated.
06:01Todd will reprise his role in Bloodlines,
06:03but due to his tragic passing in 2024,
06:06it'll be one of his final features.
06:08I'll see you soon.
06:10Death's Playbook
06:11Destiny is a recurring theme throughout the series.
06:14Interestingly, the premise of the first film was originally slated as an episode of The X-Files
06:19before being adapted into its own movie.
06:21So the supernatural undertones of the universe have permeated every entry.
06:26While trying to understand death's design,
06:28characters reference omens, actions and reactions, and butterfly effects.
06:32How do we know that just by sitting here, by breathing the air,
06:36or even crossing the intersection,
06:37that we haven't started in motion
06:39the events that will someday lead to our death
06:4240 years from now, 10 years from now, tomorrow.
06:44One common pattern intertwines every film.
06:47Those who defied death will inevitably perish in the same order they did during the premonition.
06:52They mirror the order everyone died in on the bridge.
06:54An exception comes in Final Destination 2,
06:57where the characters are taken out in reverse order thanks to Clear's involvement.
07:00Being alive after we were supposed to die, it caused an outward ripple.
07:05That's why death is working backwards.
07:07It's tying up all the loose ends.
07:10In trying to break this cursed pattern,
07:12the protagonists launch a number of intriguing, albeit unsuccessful campaigns.
07:16There's the theory that the creation of a new life could restore vitality,
07:20that the protagonist's self-inflicted demise would disrupt the order,
07:23or that killing another person will grant you their lifetime.
07:27Ultimately, we're reminded of Bloodworth's chilling warning.
07:30In death, there are no accidents, no coincidences, no mishaps, and no escapes.
07:38In other words, nothing has worked.
07:41Another rule established by the series is that if your life is saved,
07:44death simply skips you and moves on to the next victim until it's your turn again.
07:48You know, saving Janet either destroyed death's list,
07:51or skips her for now, and then I'm next.
07:53As they fall one by one, the doomed characters realize that even scrambling the order won't invalidate the plan.
08:00They'll always end up right where the Reaper wanted them to be from the beginning.
08:04What if we didn't change anything?
08:07What if us being here, right now, was the plan from the beginning?
08:12Even if the inventive death scenes are the main draw,
08:15Final Destination is at its best when it explores these existential questions about life and death.
08:19Newton says that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
08:24And that that action we take might have an opposite reaction that thwarts death's intent.
08:28If you could see how you were going to die, would you want to know?
08:32When I die, it's gonna hurt.
08:35If you intervene in death's plans for you, what negative ripple will this have for someone else?
08:40Do I cause your death?
08:42Just like you caused the air?
08:44Since Bloodlines will trace this bizarre phenomenon over several decades,
08:48it'll be interesting to see how the family navigates the prophesized chain of events.
08:52This book, it will show you everything you need to know to keep our family safe.
08:56Seer Powers
08:57Every Final Destination protagonist experiences some kind of psychic ability to witness tragic events before they occur.
09:04It manifests as dreams, signs from the universe, and even just intense feelings.
09:08Oddly, the writers never actually investigate why the protagonists have these gifts,
09:14or how they've suddenly harnessed them.
09:16I had a vision.
09:18A vision?
09:19Psychic phenomenon.
09:21Ghosts.
09:22Bigfoot.
09:22You actually believe in that stuff?
09:25I don't know.
09:26But this could be fleshed out more in Bloodlines,
09:29given the setup that these ghostly premonitions are passed on from one generation to the next.
09:33Perhaps it's hereditary.
09:34Perhaps all the seers in the Final Destination universe are more connected than we thought.
09:39Did mom ever have any, I don't know, um, weird feelings about anything?
09:45Series Survivors
09:46So many legacy horror franchises have seen their original Final Girls return to thwart evil as of late.
09:52However, this likely won't be the case for Bloodlines, given that there's virtually no one left.
09:58Alex Browning is confirmed dead via a newspaper article in Final Destination 2,
10:02where Clear meets her end, too.
10:04There are no survivors by the time the credits roll in films 3, 4, and 5.
10:08However, Kimberly and love interest Thomas Burke from the second movie are still canonically alive.
10:13That is, unless you count a run-in with a wood chipper that's alluded to in 3's DVD bonus features.
10:19Because this is an alternate scene excluded from the theatrical release,
10:23it's safe to say they're the only survivors of Death's plan in the Final Destination universe.
10:27We did it.
10:30Thanks to you, we cheated Death.
10:31Given how much time has passed, it'd be pretty shocking if these two managed to avoid Death's grip for over a decade.
10:38But we're not counting out a potential cameo, or at least a few references and flashbacks to other prominent characters.
10:44Dead as they may be.
10:46Guess we all should have seen that coming.
10:47Easter eggs.
11:04The series is filled with a ton of meta callbacks to its own entries that only diehard fans will pick up on.
11:11The race car that eventually causes the crash in the fourth movie is seen in Final Destination 5.
11:15A poster for Clear River's Water, which matches the name of a major character in the series, is visible in The Final Destination.
11:22One particular brand of beer just keeps appearing when characters meet their end throughout several films.
11:27Apart from the self-referential Easter eggs, Final Destination also references pop culture.
11:32The characters in the first film all share last names with iconic horror movie directors.
11:37Billy Hitchcock, for example.
11:39But the one biggest Easter egg that appears time and time again is the number 180, the flight number from the first movie.
11:45Whether in a reflection or as an anagram, the numbers 180 are the most recurring indicator that the same deadly pattern we've all become so familiar with is playing out once again.
11:55So be on the lookout for it in Bloodlines.
11:58Speaking of Bloodlines, let us know what layers of Death's plan you hope to see unravel in the upcoming film.
12:03Share your thoughts down below.
12:05Did you enjoy this video?
12:07Check out these other clips from WatchMojo.
12:09And be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
12:15I'll see you next time.
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