I have a theory about Final Destination: Bloodlines and how the film’s apparent twist regarding death could actually explain a lot about the franchise as a whole. Beginning in 2000 with Final Destination, the franchise quickly became a blockbuster horror hit for a decade. The series has lain dormant since 2011’s Final Destination 5, with Bloodlines promising a gory return to form for the series. Each film focuses on a number of people who survive a catastrophe, thanks to someone having a vision of the event just in time to save their lives.

However, death soon comes for the unintended survivors in bizarre, grim, and often darkly hilarious ways. Beyond this thematic connection, the Final Destination movies have been largely stand-alone. However, they’ve always been confirmed to exist in the same shared universe, occasionally referencing one another. The story of the upcoming Final Destination: Bloodlines seems to be making that connection much more concrete, however, as a twist about death’s motivations could actually offer an explanation for why death has been targeting all of these people specifically.

Final Destination: Bloodlines Drastically Changes Death’s Rules

Death Has Been Targeting Specific People For A Reason All Along

Final Destination: Bloodlines sets up a radical change to the rules of Death in the long-running franchise in a way that could connect all the films together. Final Destination: Bloodlines reveals Death is targeting the Campbell family. As revealed by Iris Campbell in the film’s official trailer, she had a vision of Death’s design decades ago and managed to save herself (and several other people) by warning them to evacuate in time. Because Iris was supposed to die that night, all of her children (and subsequently their children) should have never even been born.

This is suggested to be why Death is coming for them, looking to eliminate lives that should have never been. It’s an interesting idea, showcasing the unexpected consequences of a single life. It also means that Death is coming after the family for a stated purpose of evening the scales. In Final Destination, Death’s motivations have been murky at best. There’s a certain vindictiveness to the kills that suggests Death is having fun with the victims who briefly escape it, but the movies never felt like they were specifically targeting them for any reason beyond surviving their initially intended deaths.

The Victims In Previous Final Destination Movies Could Have Been Descendants Of Other Tower Collapse Survivors

This Could Be The Key To Connecting All Of The Final Destination Movies

However, I think this twist about death could retroactively connect the entire series and explain more about the franchise as a whole. As the trailer reveals, Iris has been researching death ever since, taking note of other mᴀssive casualty events that seem to reference earlier movies in the franchise. This suggests a connection between those events and the Campbell family. Iris, saving herself years ago, ensured that her family had the chance to grow despite the fact that death’s design would have prevented any of their births.

By extension, this could also apply to the families of any other survivors, who likewise would have been targeted by Death. This may explain the plots of the previous films, with the main characters of those films unknowingly connected through their forebearers being saved by Iris. They could have spread around the country and had families, making them targets as well. If any of those children became doctors or emergency workers, they may have saved lives that death had been coming for, requiring further murderous clean-up. This could be a clever way to connect all the Final Destination films.

This could reveal the random nature of death in the Final Destination universe has really been an effort by “clean up” after Iris’ vision ensured several unintended lives could continue It builds on many of the films’ themes about how important a single life can be, and how small decisions can lead to huge consequences. It also gives death a clearer motivation for targeting so many people. The trailer hints this is indeed the case, with the voice-over from Iris suggesting that death has been taking out anyone else born because of Iris and has only finally reached the Campbells.

The Final Destination: Bloodlines Theory Has Some Holes, But It Works

This Could Give A New Thematic Connection To The Entire Series

There are some potential plot holes that could complicate this theory, mostly in making sure the other victims in the Final Destination franchise could have actually all traced some kind of connection back to the vision that Iris saw. While some of them being family members could serve as a reason for Death to target them (and anyone who gets caught in the crosshairs), it’s unlikely that all those descendants would naturally end up together in situations and settings where Death could pick them all off at once. This suggests that each previous film was Death picking away at the survivors.

While Death may have been able to manipulate events to try and get multiple victims together for a single kill, this also suggests that everyone else who dies in these events beyond Death’s intended target was either already fated to perish in such an accident, or they were just collateral damage in Death’s efforts to clear away anyone who should have never existed. If the latter is the case, then Death has far more concern preventing unintended life than ensuring the survival of others and becomes a more fearsome enтιтy.

This would also play into the other films, which codified that death is always hunting people who shouldn’t be alive. Revealing it has been happening long before anyone escaped a plane crash or auto accident could give Final Destination a better lore. Perhaps the biggest complication of Final Destination: Bloodlines being about the resolution of death’s plan is that it may naturally become an ending point for the franchise. It’s darkly fitting that death came for the Campbells after eliminating everyone, a darkly poetic “reward” for Iris saving so many lives only to watch her family crumble before her.

It would be anti-climactic for Death’s mission to continue in other movies after dispatching Iris and her family. However, the film could resolve the Campbell storyline and then end with a new cycle of unintended survivors escaping the movie, beginning death’s hunt anew. In a sense, Final Destination: Bloodlines could easily become a concluding chapter of the franchise by connecting all of the films’ deaths and revealing the true purpose behind Death’s rampage.