Warning: SPOILERS lie ahead for Final Destination Bloodlines!Final Destination Bloodlines has brought the franchise full circle and wiped the slate clean for the future, and the directors and cast behind the sequel are explaining how they pulled it off. The latest installment in the horror series centers on the Campbell family as college student, Stefani, begins having visions of a horrifying tower collapse in 1968. As she investigates, she learns that her grandmother had a premonition of the collapse and saved many lives, but also cheated Death, thus beginning a chain that finally puts the family back on Death's radar.

As with prior installments, the Final Destination Bloodlines cast find themselves killed in a variety of terrifying accidents, including being mangled in a garbage truck, crushed by an MRI machine, and impaled by a weather vane. Towards the end of the film, one such accident seemingly drowns Stefani, thus breaking Death's chain and sparing her and her brother. Instead, it's revealed she only fell unconscious, thus keeping the chain intact, and leading to her and her brother's deaths via several logs crushing them from a derailed train.

In honor of the movie's release, ScreenRant interviewed Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones, Richard Harmon, Owen Patrick Joyner, Rya Kihlstedt, Anna Lore, and directing duo Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein to discuss Final Destination Bloodlines. The stars shared their favorite deaths from the new movie, including why the shocking ending shouldn't upset viewers. The directors also talked finally revealing the backstory of Tony Todd's William Bludworth, how the Skyview incident ties the franchise together, and nearly bringing back another major character.

Most Of The Cast Agree 1 Final Destination Bloodlines Kill Is The Best

"I Like The Deaths That Are A Little Funny."

With a fresh roster of characters and a new series of accidents enacted by Death, Final Destination Bloodlines delivers plenty of inventive new kills. In looking at the various kills in the sequel, a majority of the cast agree that the death of Richard Harmon's Erik is the best. Despite the trailers pointing to his death coming from the tattoo parlor, Erik is instead pulled into an MRI machine thanks to his various piercings, and subsequently crushed, which Joyner describes as "absolutely brutal" and "terrifying", and that he could "feel it happening to me" when he watched it.

Both Briones and Lore also agreed, however, that the death of Kihlstedt's Darlene, in which she has a lamp post fall and bisect her, was an enjoyable one to watch. Briones appreciated the fact that her death partly came because she was trying to "save [her] son", while Lore not only pointed to the "really cool" makeup used for the death scene, but also wished for Kihlstedt's for how quick it was compared to her own, and because the script was changed last minute about when Darlene died in the movie.

"And they changed the script a little bit," Lore revealed. "They changed the ending. There was a rewrite where she was dying earlier in the movie and then they pushed her death to that one. And I was like, 'You didn't want to rewrite me into the movie for longer?' [Chuckles]"

While Kihlstedt also appreciated what everyone shared about her death, she expressed that her favorites are "the deaths that are a little funny", pointing to that of Joyner's Bobby, in which a vending machine spring impales him in the head. Calling it "so horrifying and upsetting", she specifically recalled the shot of "him crawling across [the ground]" being "devastating", but still enjoyed "the humor part" of his and other scenes.

Interestingly, Joyner points to Final Destination Bloodlines' ending as his favorite deaths, in which Briones' Charlie and Juana's Stefani are killed, continuing the franchise's final rug pull trend and bringing everything full-circle. Harmon agreed that their deaths also served as a nice homage to the iconic log truck crash from Final Destination 2, with Joyner feeling that the creative team was "golden", and Lore expressing that, because the audience will "love them so much as characters", the only reason their deaths will be accepted is if it was "a punchline".

The Sequel's Use Of Songs For The Deaths Was A Unique Creative Process

The Directors Were Surprised They Got To Keep 1 Song

While prior Final Destination movies have typically used a single song throughout their runtimes to carry on the hint of death from their opening premonitions, Bloodlines utilizes different songs that thematically tie into its death scenes. In reflecting on how they chose what songs to use for the film, the directing duo acknowledged that the creation of the kills and the choosing of the music were "happening simultaneously" throughout the development process.

"There's definitely areas where we're like, 'Oh, a song could work really well in this sequence, let's figure out what it'll be later as the sequence kind of matures'," Lipovsky explained. "Other times there's, for example, 'Ring of Fire,' we just kind of knew immediately. As soon as I heard that, I was like, 'Oh, we got to have 'Ring of Fire'."

One song that came from outside the duo was that of Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)", which Stein revealed was a suggestion from Bloodlines editor Sabrina Pitre. Lipovsky recalled her showing it to the directors with the idea of "Wouldn't this be funny?", to which they agreed it was an "amazing" choice, but believed it would "never last" because, as Stein noted, it's "very expensive". To their surprise, though, "no one ever took it out" of the movie, leading to it being kept in the final product.

One of the few songs that Lipovsky and Stein knew "early on that we needed" was that of the Isley Brothers' "Shout", which is used in the movie's opening Skyview Restaurant Tower collapse. After Stein apologized to the band's estate for the fact Final Destination Bloodlines is "going to kind of ruin that song for the next generation", he also acknowledged that a key part of the 1959 classic made it a great choice for the movie.

The "Little bit softer now," leading into the "Louder now", just has such suspense to it. As soon as we came up with that idea, we knew we needed that song in the movie.

Stein & Lipovsky "Discussed & Debated A Lot" How The Skyview Incident Would Bring The Franchise Full Circle

They Also Nearly Brought Back A Major Character

As the movie reveals, the Skyview incident is the inciting event that kicks off the entire Final Destination franchise, with Death coming after all the survivors and their descendants, given the latter are not meant to exist. When presented with the question of whether every prior main character is a descendant of said survivors, Stein and Lipovsky it it's "something we discussed and debated a lot", and called the theory "so juicy". However, they confirmed that's not the case, namely for the fact it would break a key piece of franchise canon.

"It meant that their parents had to have died before they died," Stein explained. Lipovsky also pointed out that audiences "don't see in the previous movies" the parents' deaths, therefore making such a confirmation a potential canon breaker, leading to them deciding "everyone who dies in our movie [is] contained within just the Skyview" incident. Instead, Stein pointed to the scene in which Iris' notebook reveals "research on all those other movies", which also nearly led to the return of A.J. Cook's Kimberly Corman from Final Destination 2.

"There was a draft where she almost did [return]," Lipovsky confirmed. Stein went on to explain that, in said scene, they were able to canonically confirm that Kimberly and Michael Landes' Thomas "actually escaped Death", and as such, Iris hoped to do what they did in order to keep her family safe. Though she didn't return for Bloodlines, the co-director did say "she could come back some other time".

Tony Todd's Backstory Reveal Was Also His Way Of Saying Goodbye To Fans

"I Need To Be In This Movie."

One of the more consistent elements of the franchise has been the appearance of Tony Todd as William Bludworth, the ominous mortician who offers vague advice to those on Death's list. While always theorized to be Death himself, Final Destination Bloodlines reveals he was actually a survivor of the Skyview incident, with he and the younger version of Iris being the last to die in the premonition. In the decades since, they have discussed their theories about how to beat Death, and subsequently giving the same advice to others who came to him for help.

Stein itted that it "was overwhelming" to be on the creative team who was finally unveiling Bludworth's backstory, while also being "so honored to work with him" and assuring that Todd was involved in the development of this concept. "He's been such a mysterious character in all the other movies, but he's never been a full person," Stein explained. "And there was this interesting opportunity here to give a backstory to the character, show why maybe he knows so much about Death, why he was so interested in premonitions for his whole life, and why he knows so much."

The co-director also pointed to the team's desire to give Todd "a proper ending" in the franchise, as they "were pretty sure that this would be his last Final Destination movie". Stein acknowledged that the production recognized he "was quite sick when we were making the movie", but that the star was adamant about remaining onboard the sequel, telling the directors, "Don't write me out of this movie" and "I need to be in this movie". He also found it to be both "an emotional time" and "very joyful" working with Todd.

Lipovsky also revealed that there was a "meta level" to Todd's Final Destination Bloodlines scene, recalling having told the star, "Throw away the script for a minute here" and "Just speak from the heart". This led to Bludworth telling the Reyes and Campbell family, "Life is precious. Savor every second that you got". Lipovsky also found that Todd was "very much living through [Bludworth] in that moment", while also recalling the star "cherishing every moment" on set, and Stein expressing the star was "speaking from the heart to the audience".

He filled it with so much life and joy, and that kind of stuck with all of us, and it really comes through in that moment.

More About Final Destination Bloodlines

The newest chapter in New Line Cinema’s bloody successful franchise takes audiences back to the very beginning of Death’s twisted sense of justice—“Final Destination Bloodlines.” Plagued by a violent recurring nightmare, college student Stefanie heads home to track down the one person who might be able to break the cycle and save her family from the grisly demise that inevitably awaits them all.

Check out our previous Final Destination Bloodlines interview with Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones, Richard Harmon, Owen Patrick Joyner, Rya Kihlstedt and Anna Lore!

Final Destination Bloodlines is now in theaters!

Source: ScreenRant Plus