Back in 1994, aspiring screenwriter Jeffrey Reddick came across a creepy tale about a woman who switched her flight at the last second, based solely on her daughter’s hunch. In a spine-tingling twist, that flight wound up crashing, killing everyone on board. Feeling both inspired and freaked out, Reddick wrote a script called “Flight 180” based on this true story. He used this script to land an agent and planned to pitch it for an episode of the iconic sci-fi series, The X-Files.
Final Destination Bloodlines
- Release Date
- May 16, 2025
- Runtime
- 110 minutes
- Director
- Zach Lipovsky, Adam B. Stein
- Writers
- Lori Evans Taylor, Guy Busick
- Producers
- Craig Perry, Toby Emmerich,
Jon Watts, Dianne McGunigle, Sheila Hanahan Taylor
Cast
-
Kaitlyn Santa Juana
Stefanie Reyes
-
Teo Briones
Charlie Reyes
Reddick never submitted his script for The X Files, but he did turn it into a feature-length film roughly 6 years later. This film follows a group of teenagers who unintentionally cheat death after one of them experiences a fatal premonition, leading Death to course-correct the universe and kill each teenager. That movie was Final Destination. The 2000 original became a huge commercial success, spawning one of the most successful horror franchises of the 2000s.
There are currently 6 films in the franchise, including the recently released 2025 sequel, Final Destination Bloodlines. Throughout those 6 movies, there have been countless gruesome and ridiculous deaths. But so far, only two characters in the Final Destination franchise have managed to escape death and survive.
Kimberly Corman & Thomas Burke Survived ‘Final Destination 2’
Kimberly Corman (A. J. Cook) was the main character in 2003’s Final Destination 2. While driving to Daytona Beach for spring break, she experiences a premonition of arguably the most iconic catastrophe in the franchise: a deadly pile-up caused by a logging truck that kills virtually everyone on the road, including Kimberly and another driver, state trooper Thomas Burke (Michael Landes). Disturbed by this premonition, Kimberly exits the ramp to avoid the accident, causing Burke and several others to also avoid this inevitable disaster.
Naturally, Death comes back around to reclaim the lucky survivors who escaped its clutches. Death ticks them off one at a time, killing them in the most brutal ways possible. Kimberly later meets with the mysterious William Bludworth (Tony Todd), a mortician who’s managed to escape Death before. He advises Kimberly that “only new life can defeat Death”. With this idea in mind, Kimberly kills herself by driving an ambulance into a lake but is resuscitated. This act of “new life” ultimately breaks the cycle, sparing both Kimberly and Burke, the only remaining survivor, from Death. Shockingly, Final Destination 2 ends with both characters still alive, safe from any last-minute fatalities.
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The Non-Canonical Deleted Scene from ‘Final Destination 3’
Fast-forward to 2006, to the release of Final Destination 3. This film was supposed to bring A. J. Cook and Michael Landes back as Kimberly Corman and Officer Thomas Burke, respectively. But since one of the actors was unavailable, the film focused instead on a new cast of characters and omitted Corman and Burke from the story. Well, sort of.
The DVD of Final Destination 3 includes a deleted scene of a newspaper clipping, which states that Kimberly and Burke were killed in a freak wood chipper accident. It seems that Death got them in the end, after all. Many fans, however, don’t consider this scene canon, since it was left on the cutting room floor. And the newest installment in the franchise, Final Destination Bloodlines, all but confirms that.
‘Final Destination Bloodlines’ Confirms Kimberly and Burke Are Still Alive
It’s been 14 years since a new Final Destination movie was released. During that time, the franchise’s fanbase assumed that Kimberly and Burke, along with every other character, had been claimed by Death. Final Destination Bloodlines, however, flips that theory on its head. Unlike its predecessors, Final Destination Bloodlines takes a different approach. Yes, there’s still a premonition of a deadly disaster, which various characters manage to avoid. But this particular disaster took place in the past, in the year 1968 — and Death has been killing every survivor since, along with all of their ancestors.
Bloodlines follows Stefani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana), the ancestor of the young woman who experienced that premonition in 1968, as she tries to figure out how to escape Death. Her quest for answers brings her to the last remaining survivor of the 1968 disaster — William Bludworth, played once again by Tony Todd. At last, we have an origin story for this mysterious character! Bludworth tells Stefani there are two ways to defeat Death: by taking another life or by dying and getting revived — just like Kimberly Corman.
Yes, in this eye-opening scene that’s actually in the final cut of the movie, Bludworth discloses that Kimberly Corman is still alive. The film doesn’t mention Thomas Burke, but he’s probably alive as well, given how Final Destination 2 concluded. This makes it official: Kimberly Corman and Thomas Burke are the only two characters in the Final Destination franchise to still be alive.
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But Wait, What About Bludworth?
“But wait,” you’re probably saying, “what about Bludworth?” Yes, Bludworth did manage to defeat Death and stay alive all these years. He’s also appeared in all but one movie in the franchise. However, it’s heavily implied that Bludworth doesn’t make it out of Bloodlines alive. His character is suffering from an illness that will presumably claim his life. This plot point actually mirrors Tony Todd’s own real-life situation, as he was battling stomach cancer during the film’s production. Todd passed away in November 2024, before the release of Bloodlines. Although we don’t see Bludworth die on-screen, it’s assumed that Death finally catches up with him in the end.
Bludworth’s death leaves Corman and presumably Burke as the franchise’s only surviving characters. Will we see them pop up in a sequel? Will they replace Bludworth as the new creepy experts on Death? Will there be a sequel? So far, Bloodlines has grossed $258 million worldwide against a budget of $50 million. It’s both the best-reviewed and the highest-grossing installment in the Final Destination franchise. It’s also the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2025 so far. If these numbers are any indication, we’re sure to encounter Death again very soon in a sequel.