A Look at the Entire "Final Destination" Series (So Far)

You know, I actually remember the buzz surrounding the first film back in 2000, having no idea that it would become such a phenomenon. It wasn't until the fourth film was close to coming out that I watched the first three on a mini-binge, checking out each movie at my local library and watching them before I went to the theater to watch the fourth film. But I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself. Here's how the film series started.

The first film, Final Destination, hit theaters on March 17, 2000 (one day before my 15th birthday). The first film centered on a group of students heading on a school trip to Paris, but one of them, Alex Browning, senses something very off. One part that really stood with me: while Alex was in the restroom, the song, Rocky Mountain High, is played. Care to take a guess who sang that famous song? Yeah. I know this much. When you are about to go on a cross-country flight, the last thing you want to hear is John Denver.

All of a sudden, after the students board the plane, it suddenly explodes. Then all of a sudden, Alex wakes up on the plane. He later panics, gets a bunch of people out of the plane with warnings that it'll explode. Sure enough, it does. Alex saved quite a few lives, but here's the thing, Death came after the survivors, because they were not supposed to survive.

The first film had quite a star studded cast. The role of central protagonist Alex Browning was played by Devon Sawa, who was a year removed from appearing in Idle Hands, and was also in one of my favorite football movies, Little Giants. Ali Larter appeared as Clear Rivers, and the cast also included Seann William Scott (Stifler from the American Pie movies) and Kerr Smith, among others. The film spawned a sequel, Final Destination 2, which came out in 2003, and brought back Larter as Clear Rivers, and also featured Michael Landes, Keegan Connor Tracy, and AJ Cook as the film's central character, Kimberly Corman.

Final Destination 3 came out in 2006 and featured Mary Elizabeth Winstead as the central character, Wendy Christensen. This was actually the first film that Winstead did following her appearance as main villainess Gwen Grayson/Royal Pain in the Disney film, Sky High, and she would go on to play John McClane's daughter, Lucy McClane, in the last two Die Hard films, as well as Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim vs The World. 2009 gave us The Final Destination, the fourth installment of the series, featuring Bobby Campo as Nick O'Bannon, and also featuring Krista Allen, Haley Webb, and Shantel VanSanten. Final Destination 5 came out two years later in 2011, with Nicholas D'Agosto taking the central role of Sam Lawton in the film.

After being dormant for 14 years, the Final Destination series returned on May 14, 2025 with Final Destination Bloodlines. The buzz surrounding this film was really huge, especially with it being a theatrical release with plans for the film to hit HBO Max, where the other five films are. Speaking of, the sixth installment did hit HBO Max on August 1, and I finally watched the film on August 10. Before watching the new film, I watched the other five first, and here's where the spoiler comes in: the first film I watched was the fifth film.

Here's why:

The ending of the film saw Sam finally fulfill his goal of finally heading to Paris. We see Sam and girlfriend Molly board the plane, but there's one teeny, tiny problem: the plane they're on is Flight 180. Yeah. That flight. The replayed scene from the first film revealed that the fifth film was actually a prequel that took place a few hairs prior to the events of the first movie, and while a number of the first film's characters survived, Sam and Molly didn't.

This was the formula for the film series; the central character foresaw a deadly catastrophe that killed everyone involved, including that person. After coming back to reality, said protagonist saves others from the eventual catastrophe, but survivors ended up getting killed one-by-one by some crazy catastrophe. I mentioned that in the first film, it was the plane heading to Paris. In the second film, it was a road catastrophe that involved a logging truck. In the third film, it was a rollercoaster. The fourth film? A race track. The fifth film? Bridge collapsing.

After watching the first three films back in 2009, I found myself actually scared, and I figured out why. I usually don't get scared watching horror, and the reason is simple: most horror I watch deals with stuff that is definitely not real. Vampires, werewolves, zombies, demonically possessed dolls, you name it. All of that is the creation of a wonderfully dark imagination. Regarding the Final Destination series, the main entity in those films is death itself. Something that is not only very real, but very inevitable. Nevertheless, I watched all five films again, mainly because it had been a while since I watched them, and I wanted to do the series justice before watching the new one.

So the latest film actually begins with a flashback to 1969, where a skyrise restaurant collapses and kills everyone inside. The occurrence is revealed as a nightmare belonging to Stefani Reyes, but it's later revealed that the nightmare was a premonition belonging to Stefani's grandmother, Iris Campbell. Turns out Iris saw the collapse coming, and warned everyone, leading to the catastrophe being prevented altogether. However, Death's design was disrupted, and everyone who survived ended up dying afterwards, along with their descendants. Iris spent decades avoiding death by hiding out in a secluded cabin, which, in turn, protected her descendants. But when met with skepticism, Iris left the cabin just enough for Death to get her, sacrificing herself to reveal the truth.

This was a hell of an installment in the series. The central character, Stefani Reyes, was played by Kaitlyn Santa Juana, who appeared in the 2022 Lifetime film, He's Not Worth Dying For. Iris Campbell was played by Gabrielle Rose, who has done quite a few Hallmark films (having played a villainess in two of them), while a young Iris from the flashbacks was played by Brec Bassinger (from Stargirl and Lifetime's V.C. Andrews' Dawn series). The cast also included Rya Kihlstedt, Teo Briones (Junior from Season One of Chucky), Richard Harmon, and April Telek, among many others.

The film also featured a very, very important player in the entire series:

This man needs no introduction, but dammit he'll get one. This man, whose voice, alone, is cooler than the other side of the pillow, who has done it all and done it in epic fashion, is Anthony Tiran Todd. Horror fans know him for the Candyman movies, and having not seen any of those movies is my greatest shame as a horror fan. Tony Todd would gain more fame and acclaim for the Final Destination film as coroner William Bludworth, appearing as the character in four of the six films, and appearing as the voice at the amusement park in the third film. We lost Tony Todd late last year; he was less than a month away from turning 70. He had battled stomach cancer, but despite this, he was able to appear in Final Destination Bloodlines, which served as his final film. As he spoke to Stefani and her family members, Bludworth (who was revealed to be that young boy who Iris saved that fateful day) gave his final lines in what was an emotional goodbye to his fans:

"I intend to enjoy... the time I have left. And I suggest you do the same. Life is precious. Enjoy every single second. You never know when... Good luck."

I cried quite a bit when he was on. We've lost too many Black icons in such a short time. We lost Todd and James Earl Jones in a span of just under two months in 2024.

Regarding the film series, it's not over yet. I read that we are getting a seventh film, and it'll be a direct sequel to Bloodlines. I wonder what the seventh film will be about and what twist they'll deliver. We'll have time to wonder; we shouldn't expect the seventh film for at least another year. The film series is quite amazing, very thrilling, and absolutely scary. It's everything a horror fan would want, and then some.