An alternate ending to James Wong’s Final Destination could’ve completely changed the horror movie franchise and, most likely, not for the better. The original Final Destination follows Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) who gets a premonition about a plane crash which leads to him and six others avoiding certain death. Now that they have officially disrupted Death’s design, Death stalks the survivors and takes them out one by one. Meanwhile, Alex and the others attempt to figure out a way to escape Death’s plan before it is too late.
Final Destination offered a brilliant horror movie premise and a lot of memorable death scenes, which helped to launch the Final Destination franchise, which has five movies at this point with another coming later in 2025. Each entry in the series has taken on new main characters who are being targeted and has expanded on the rules of the franchise. However, had the original ending to Final Destination actually been used then it could have changed everything for the sequels.
What Happens In The Actual Final Destination Ending
Death Can’t Be Cheated
Final Destination ends with Alex risking his life to save Clear Rivers (Ali Larter), and seemingly causing Death to skip its sequence, thus ending the design. Feeling that they have overcome their ordeal, Alex, Clear, and fellow survivor Carter Horton (Kerr Smith) finally travel to Paris to get the trip they were meant to originally take. However, Alex realizes that he has mixed up the order in which people died in his premonition and thus was wrong about Death skipping him.
Alex gets up to leave and is nearly killed in another freak accident only for Carter to save him at the last moment. However, Alex reveals he was not next in the sequence and the final sH๏τ shows a giant neon sign falling down to crush Carter. In short, Final Destination‘s ending sets up the ongoing trend that would come in the sequels of the survivors thinking they have beaten Death only to be proven wrong in those final moments.
Final Destination’s Alternate Ending Explained
A New Method Of Cheating Death Is Discovered
In the alternate ending, Alex was supposed to die after Clear exited his Toyota Corolla. As she leaves the vehicle, it ignites and he dies inside. When she screams, seemingly in that moment, it is actually several months later. Clear is in the hospital giving birth to their son, Alex Browning II.
As it turns out, she and Carter survived the entirety of Final Destination because they were able to cheat Death’s design with two key methods of exempting themselves from it: new life and the death of the final person in the original design. The concept of new life cheating Death wasn’t introduced to the franchise until Final Destination 2, when Clear proposes that it could work.
It is likely that they withheld this method of cheating Death in order to use it for a later installment instead of Final Destination.
While the final cut does not have her pregnant or delivering Alex’s baby, she somehow knows that this method can ᴀssist in other’s survival. It is likely that they withheld this method of cheating Death in order to use it for a later installment instead of Final Destination. Had it been introduced in the first movie, it is likely that the entire franchise timeline, including Final Destination 5’s prequel element, wouldn’t have worked. Interestingly, with the upcoming sixth movie enтιтled Final Destination: Bloodlines, there is some chance of a similar type of development taking place.
Why Final Destination’s Alternate Ending Doesn’t Work
The Franchise Works For Not Being Tied To Any One Character
The alternate ending doesn’t work primarily because it complicates the overall timeline of the Final Destination franchise. Carter and Clear would’ve survived – along with her and Alex’s son – which would’ve led to their bigger involvement in Final Destination 2. It’s nonsensical to include the birth of Alex Browning II if the character doesn’t play an integral part in the overall franchise. Due to his father’s supernatural abilities, it is likely that the series would’ve steered in the direction of unpacking the Browning family bloodline.
The franchise’s direction could have changed entirely to being about them rather than its most important aspect — death is inevitable and inescapable. This direction also proposes ways to cheat Death’s design far too early in the series and does not allow for fans to speculate if it is even possible. Every sequel that followed Final Destination inserted its own concept of how to survive while adding new complexities to even the most standard death rules and exceptions.
This may have led to a rather mundane franchise where the same plot was implemented over and over again, creating a formulaic and predictable structure for each movie to follow.
Furthermore, if this ending had been used, it would’ve taken away from the franchise’s overall ability to grow from the first movie because they would’ve had to follow Alex and Clear’s son rather than various accidents where similar premonitions took place. This may have led to a rather mundane franchise where the same plot was implemented over and over again, creating a formulaic and predictable structure for each movie to follow.
By not going with this ending, the franchise creators were able to offer the possibility that several twists and turns could take place, such as that of Final Destination 5, which served as a secret prequel. There are three primary elements that would have had to carry over if the alternate ending were used: Alex Browning II, Clear, and Carter’s survival, and whether there are other psychics out there or if it’s solely in the Browning family.
It is likely that Death’s design would have stayed the same because there would’ve been pre-constructed rules and exceptions based on Alex’s death and his son’s birth. While each Final Destination movie features an accident and premonition, Alex Browning II, Clear, and Carter would have had to be central in the sequel to have it make sense and exist in the same cinematic universe.
It is clear that there are other people who have premonitions in the Final Destination universe, but the alternate ending to the original 2000 movie could’ve thrown a wrench in the franchise’s successful structure and design. Ultimately, the team that worked on Final Destination made the right choice for the final cut’s ending, as it allowed for it to expand into a popular franchise that continues to entertain and has a continued future over two decades later.
Other Alternate Endings In The Final Destination Series
The Third Movie Nearly Included Some Franchise Cameos
Final Destination 3 is another movie in the horror franchise that almost had a different ending to the one fans saw in theaters. However, while Final Destination‘s original ending would have caused issues for the franchise going forward, the planned ending of Final Destination 3 would have tied up one of the franchise’s biggest loose ends.
The theatrical ending fans know finds the main survivor, Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), having moved on from her life after seemingly escaping Death’s design and saving others. However, when on a subway, she finds to her surprise, that her fellow survivors, Kevin (Ryan Merriman) and Julie (Amanda Crew), are also on the train, which leads to another premonition of the train crashing and killing them all. The movie ends with them trying to stop the train and it’s implied that they are all killed in the ensuing crash.
The ending shows that Death has the patience to bring together all of those who escaped their planned demise, taking them all out at once. This idea was almost extended further with the planned ending which would have had the same setup of Wendy unexpectedly reuniting with the other survivors on the train while also revealing the Final Destination 2‘s Kimberly Corman (A.J. Cook) and Thomas Burke (Michael Landes) are also on the train. This would have led to the only two survivors of the Final Destination franchise to date being finally caught by Death.
While it is an exciting idea that likely would have pleased Final Destination fans, producer Craig Perry revealed that actor availability prevented the idea from happening (via Digital Spy):
“They were going to die to tie the whole thing up to Final Destination 2. I loved the idea and we had it scripted and were going to try it. We were able to get one of the two actors who were available, but the other one wasn’t. If we couldn’t do it all the way, we decided it was best not to do it. To have just one of them leaves an open ending which would make no sense in Death’s overarching plan.”
