‘Final Destination’ Creator Jeffrey Reddick Talks The Franchise’s Original Vision, Tony Todd, And What Lies Ahead

Final Destination turns 25 years old in 2025, while the latest installment, Final Destination Bloodlines, spooks its way into theaters in May.

As part of the celebrations, we chatted with the original creator of Final Destination, Jeffrey Reddick, to find out captivating behind-the-scenes facts about the movie, the overall franchise, if characters are really dead, Tony Todd, and what fans can expect from the upcoming film.

It’s been well documented that you conceived the story for Final Destination and wrote the script, then Glen Morgan and James Wong did their own draft. I’m curious: In your version, are there any survivors at the end?

Jeffrey Reddick: Yeah, in my original version of the script, Alex was alive, and Kimberly – which was Clear’s original name, and we ended up using that name for the lead in the second movie – her fate was undecided. Even in the original cut of the final film, they had her pregnant, but they cut the sex scene and lost that. 

In my version, the same thing happened… Her and Alex were in love, they had sex, and so she was pregnant. Death obviously couldn’t claim her, because she had a life inside of her. But then at the end of the film, she and Alex are in the delivery room, and she’s just given birth. In an almost Evil Dead style, you see this mysterious force moving through the hospital, going into the delivery room, and up to Clear’s face, then it cuts to black, so you’re not sure what happens to her.

Did you and anybody else ever see franchise potential in it, or was it approached solely as a one-and-done?

Jeffrey Reddick: Just growing up as a horror fan, I’m so used to seeing films that are franchises. I worked at New Line Cinema for 11 years, including being there through the development process of my script and the development process of James and Glen’s script, and I always saw the film as a potential franchise. You can’t help setting that up. Death is something that’s universal, and my original theme for the film was that you can’t cheat death, but you can maybe prolong your life. So I definitely saw it as a franchise. 

The studio was kind of nervous. They weren’t sure if audiences were going to buy into a movie where you didn’t actually see Death, and that Death was just this force that was coming after you. But I was very confident that it would be, hopefully, at least one or two movies. I had no idea that it would turn into the kind of zeitgeisty thing that it did. Twenty-five years later, I’m getting log truck memes, and I hear people saying, “Oh my God, I almost had a Final Destination moment,” so I never thought that that would happen. 

So, as a fan and as somebody who started this all, I’m eternally grateful for the fans for really making this a hit, and then all the great people that were involved – all the directors, writers, cast, and crew that made the film so special. So, yeah, I knew it would be a franchise. I didn’t think it would become the phenomenon that it is, though. That really took me by surprise.

Final Destination became known for its innovative on-screen deaths and how no one can delay the inevitable, because Death finds you in the end. Was there any gnarly death in your original script that didn’t make it into the final movie that you think might have been a goodie? 

Jeffrey Reddick: When I think about the deaths, once James and Glenn came up with a really great idea of using kind of a Rube Goldberg device to kill the characters, as opposed to my version – which was where Death used their survivor’s guilt to plunge them into these terrifying scenarios where they ended up committing suicide, which is pretty dark – I think that there’s a lot of similarities. In my version Todd still hung himself. Got hung, but it was through mechanisms that he set up himself. 

But I think the one death that I miss was Carter’s, who was named Tony in the original script. [Like in the movie,] he was an a***hole, and his girlfriend starts haunting him after her death. He’s at a subway station, and she shows up to him. She talks about what an awful boyfriend he was, and what she did to make herself beautiful for him. Then she starts throwing up – revealing that she was bulimic, trying to stay skinny for him. Kind of a little homage to Gates of Hell, she starts puking her intestines up. He sees this, and he’s so terrified that he throws himself in front of a subway car. As opposed to in the movie where she gets hit by a bus, her jerky boyfriend gets hit by a subway car. I always thought that would have been a really awesome scene to pull off and see in a film. 

But again, I love the movie that it turned out to be, so I’ve taken some of the bits and pieces from the script that I love and used it for other films. I kind of used that scene in Tamara, but we didn’t have the budget to pull it off like I had hoped we would have. But yeah, that’s the one scene that I think would have really grossed people out, because she pukes her intestines out then ends up like the shriveled husk of a person, and Carter throws himself in front of a subway car out of guilt.

In the past, you have mentioned how the studio execs wanted to see a physical embodiment of Death on screen in Final Destination, but everyone fought against it. Was there ever any mention of who they would like to see or how Death would be presented – maybe like a grim reaper with a sickle?

Jeffrey Reddick: The studio really was pushing for a physical embodiment of Death, because they couldn’t wrap their heads around a force. That wasn’t in my X Files spec script, and [producer] Craig Perry and I fought against doing this for the original draft that I wrote. What we kind of settled on is I created this Angel of Death character, and it doesn’t even show up until way after the second or third death. We don’t actually see it personified. I’ve read online that it was like some guy with the hood and the sickle, which is just not true. It was just kind of this shadowy, undulating figure in the shadows that started taunting Alex. Because at this point, Alex had figured out Death’s design that Death was killing the survivors in the order they would have died in the crash. So, Death was this shadowy thing in the darkness that was taunting him that he wasn’t going to be able to save his friends, and that this was all his fault. 

Even in the version New Line signed off on, we never gave Death a form, because I didn’t want to lock this into any kind of religious or societal version of what Death would be like, so I always kept it this nebulous, shadowy thing. You can see remnants of that in Glen and James’ script too, when you see this dark shadow waft or roll by in the background. So I definitely was emphatic that I wasn’t going to have like this hooded figure, with a sickle, killing the kids. But I did relent on finally kind of showing a manifestation of this dark, undulating blackness that represented Death and tormented Alex later on. So, I’m glad that Glen and James really fought to make sure, too, that we didn’t show a manifestation of Death, because I think that would have limited the audience, because every culture and country has their own idea of what Death would be like.

I know there were a lot of changes made for Final Destination 2 that were out of everyone’s hands and there were alternate endings for Final Destination where Alex Browning died. But do you think Alex should have survived in the second film (even if he didn’t appear) rather than be killed off, especially considering how important Devon Sawa was to the original movie? I always thought it would have been an interesting angle to see him try to avoid Death for a few movies, almost luring the audiences into the false belief that he can do it, then wham! Goner. Feel free to tell me my fantasy script writing sucks here [laughs].

Jeffrey Reddick: Regarding the end of Final Destination, I never planned on killing Alex. In my draft, Alex definitely was alive. Working at the studio, once we were two or three weeks into the film, and we saw that it wasn’t dropping like horror films usually do on the second weekend – it was actually making more money – we realized that we had a word-of-mouth hit on our hands. 

So, I immediately started writing the sequel, and Alex and Clear both came back for the sequel. If I would have known that Alex wasn’t going to be able to be back, or Devon wasn’t going to be back, I wouldn’t have killed Clear off, because the whole idea was that he was alive. I did kill Clear off [in the sequel] – that was always an intention of mine – but I wouldn’t have killed Alex off because he’s my first final guy in a franchise, and I really wanted to establish a cool horror franchise with like a final guy that was in the sequel. So, never planned on killing him off at all.

Yeah, I was not happy to see him being unceremoniously killed in the second movie. But it’s so funny, because I’ve had this argument with fans to this day. Look, in a horror movie, if you don’t see a character die on screen, to me, they’re not dead. We didn’t see the officer and Kimberly die at the end of Final Destination 2. There was some DVD extra – a newspaper clipping that they died – but it’s not canon. 

Even if you look at the film, at the scene where Kimberly’s talking about Alex being dead when she’s in the sanitarium. All she does is pull out a picture and say, “This is what happened with Alex when I was supposed to be taking care of him.” So, she doesn’t say, “I saw Alex die in front of me,” or anything like that. She just shows a picture of some guy laying on the ground with a brick in his head, and the guy in the picture doesn’t even look like Alex. In my brain, we don’t know if he’s dead for sure or not. That’s still what I say after all these years. It doesn’t mean we’re going to bring him back – I’d love to see him come back along with Kimberly and the officer, because, again, we haven’t seen them die off screen. I think as we expand the Final Destination Universe with Bloodlines, we may see ways that that can happen. That’d be very exciting.

One of Tony Todd’s final roles will be shown in Final Destination Bloodlines. Already a bona fide horror legend, he became such an important part of the Final Destination lore. What do you consider to be Tony’s greatest addition to this franchise and your fondest memory of him?

Jeffrey Reddick: I remember seeing him in Candyman – that’s one of my top five favorite movies of all time. So, we were very blessed to get him for Final Destination. I think he is such an integral part of the franchise. It’s so sad that we lost him. I became really good friends with him over the years. They often say you don’t want to meet your idols, but he was definitely an idol that I met that I’m so happy I did. Final Destination Bloodlines is his final film, and I feel very blessed that we were able to bring him back and have him be in the last film in a meaningful way that feels like a true tribute to the icon that he was. Yeah, I know me, everybody that worked with him and knew him, and all the fans that have met him miss him terribly. He was just a wonderful actor and a wonderful friend. So sad to see him pass.

When I think about Tony Todd’s character in the film, I think his most important contribution is that so many people have put so many theories into who he is. Is he Death? Not only has he always been crucial in helping the survivors who are smart enough to come to him and give them insight on how maybe they can survive or maybe they can get through this, but he’s also been a connective tissue that’s really added a big layer of mystery to the film. Like I said, some people think he’s Death, or he’s Death’s right-hand man. How does he know all this stuff? Yeah, he’s an important part of the films. Not only because he brings the gravitas of Tony Todd to the films, but also since his character is such an integral part of the mystery of Death’s design. He’s the guy that seems to have some answers, but we don’t know exactly how or exactly why.

The final question about Final Destination (ha!): Do you still have another Final Destination story in you? Something that you know could change the franchise altogether.

Jeffrey Reddick: I have lots of ideas. It’s interesting, because the studios obviously don’t want to stray too far from the formula. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. I think Bloodlines has a very intelligent way of telling a new Final Destination story that is not a reboot that changes everything, but it’s a really smart angle. Jon Watts came up with the story, and Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor – just great writers on the Scream films – they really wrote a wonderful screenplay. And Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein really did a great job directing it. So, I’m so happy to see that the studio assembled an A team to make sure that this new film is on par with the best of the other films. I’m just really excited. 

I do think there are ways that we could branch the story out, but I don’t want to tell you what they are right now [laughs], because at some point I want to be pushing it and see what I can get the studio to do. The great thing is they’ve kept me involved, and I’ve become friends with all of the writers and directors of the sequels, who have been amazing people to work with and have brought their own unique ideas and visions to the script. It’s just so wonderful to see something that, again, started off as an idea for a spec script just to get an agent has turned into a franchise that really speaks to so many people.

In terms of your current activities, I know you have written more movies and directed too. Is there anything you’re working on right now that you’d like to plug?

Jeffrey Reddick: Over the last couple of years, it’s been very interesting. I worked on a show called Midnight Texas for a season, which was a lot of fun. I wrote on a couple of animated shows for Netflix, which was wonderful, because I got to scratch some different creative muscles. I’m really moving at this point into producing stuff, because I have my own scripts I want to get made, but the landscape in the industry has changed so much. 

When I was growing up, you could sell a treatment or a script to a studio, and they would hire a director and bring a cast on. Now, because corporations have taken over most of the studios, and since they want to make their shareholders money, you find that most of the people that run most of the studios, that’s their mandate: We have to make our shareholders money, not we have to tell great original stories. That’s why you see a lot of remakes, sequels, reboots, and things based off of huge-selling comic books or huge books. So, hopefully, we’ll get to a point where we can really let creativity come back in, and people will take a few chances with even Final Destination.

The new one does. Bloodlines, like I said, is a really smart, unique angle into a Final Destination movie without it feeling like it’s not a Final Destination movie. So I hope that tradition continues. I have a few ideas of my own on how I’d like to expand the world, or the way that we get into the world in the future. Only time will tell. But considering all the great fan reaction from the teaser and the trailer – and how well it’s done in test screenings and stuff – I think that when this new one comes out, it won’t be many, many years before another one follows. I can assure you that with the producers and executives that we have behind it, they will make sure that it’s a strong film and not just a cash grab. I really can’t wait for everybody to see it, and I truly am so appreciative of all the fans who have stood by for so long – not only celebrating the old films, but also pushing to get a new one out there.

As far as what I’m working on now, like I said, I’m moving more into producing, so I have a new horror script right now that I’m super excited about. I can’t get into details about it, because I’ve just finished it, and we’re working on getting the film packaged so we can go out with it in the next couple of months. But it’s supernatural. That’s my jam. It’s a supernatural horror film that I’m really excited about. 

I produced an indie film called The Other that we shot in Texas. A buddy of mine, Paul Etheredge, directed it, and that’s going to be coming out soon through Quiver. You should start seeing some posters and announcements for that coming up in the near future. 

I worked on this indie film in Kentucky called New Fears Eve, which is me just dabbling back in the indie world. I’m from Kentucky, and P.J. Starks and Eric Huskisson are two filmmakers that I really love from the state. Anytime I can help anybody from my home state get something off the ground, I want to do it. And it’s just a really funny horror comedy that’s got raunchy humor in it, but it’s also got a lot of blood. It stars Felissa Rose and Dave Sheridan, who’s best known first for his role in Scary Movie as Deputy Doofy – he’s coming back for the sequel of that. But yeah, New Fears Eve has got a great cast, and it really delivers on that indie-raunchy-pushing-the-boundaries horror film that genre fans love. So keep an eye out for The Others and New Fears Eve. 

If you want to follow me on social media, my handle is Jeffrey A Reddick, and as soon as I have news on the mysterious project I’m working on now, I will let you all know. Anyway, I really appreciate you championing the film and for being fans. Again, there would be no franchise without all the wonderful fans out there. So I know I speak for everyone who’s part of the Final Destination family when I say thank you, and I hope you enjoy Bloodlines when it comes out on the 16th of May.

The interview has been edited for clarity.