Warning: This article contains spoilers for Final Destination Bloodlines.Final Destination Bloodlines has conclusively proven a popular fan theory about the franchise to be incorrect. The series kicked off in 2000 with Final Destination, which followed Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) having a premonition of him and his classmates dying in a plane crash. Thanks to his panic, several of his classmates and one of his teachers survive the calamity, but Death itself hunts down the survivors one by one and kills them in a variety of creative and gory ways as revenge for defying its design. The following five installments, including 2025’s Bloodlines, generally follow this same rough structure.
Because so many of the characters in the franchise die before the ends of their respective movies, there are very few returning faces in any subsequent installments. In fact, other than original survivor Clear Rivers (Ali Larter), who returned in the sequel only to die, the only character who has appeared in multiple Final Destination movies is Tony Todd’s eerily knowledgeable mortician William Bludworth, who usually returns to offer advice to Death’s newest collection of victims. Perhaps because he has appeared in four of the six installments in the franchise, he is at the center of a major fan theory.
A Popular Final Destination Theory Suggested Bludworth Was Death
The Character’s Allegiance Was Unclear
Almost from the beginning, there has been a fan theory that Bludworth himself is Death in the Final Destination franchise. There are several clues that support this theory, both inside and outside the franchise’s universe. On a meta level, it would make sense for Bludworth to be the one pulling the strings behind the scenes of the franchise, because he is one of the only recurring characters. Todd himself has also appeared in an additional movie, voicing the statue outside the Devil’s Flight roller coaster in Final Destination 3, which gave him an even more omnipotent presence in the series.
The only installment in which Tony Todd had no participation whatsoever was 2009’s The Final Destination.
In the Final Destination universe, the biggest clue supporting the theory is Bludworth’s unnatural understanding of how Death works, which extends far beyond the realm of his work as a mortician. Nobody else in the universe has knowledge that comes remotely close to his comprehensive grasp of the subject. Additionally, given his eeriness, intensity, and respect for Death, it has long been unclear if his allegiance is with the victims that he is advising or with Death itself. This seemed to imply that Bludworth was Death itself, or at least a disciple or emissary of the enтιтy in some way.
Final Destination Bloodlines Gives Bludworth An Official Backstory
The 2025 Movie Explains His Knowledge Of Death
While Final Destination Bloodlines added a new wrinkle by having Death track down the descendants of victims it had not been able to kill in time, the new movie also unexpectedly came full circle by providing William Bludworth’s backstory. Both elements of the movie came from the same place, which is the Skyview incident depicted in the elaborate and gory opening sequence. That scene was set in 1968 and followed young Iris (Brec Bᴀssinger) foreseeing chaos in a Space Needle-esque tower, including a glᴀss dance floor shattering, an explosion burning people alive, and huge sections of the building crumbling away.
[Bludworth] helped [Iris] with her research of Death’s design.
During this sequence, Iris is shown attempting to rescue the young son (Jayden Oniah) of a singer (Natasha Burnett) who is performing at the restaurant. While she is unable to do so and the pair eventually fall to their deaths, she later manages to save him, along with everybody else in the restaurant, by preventing the incident from occurring in the first place. Later on in the movie, when her descendants come to Bludworth looking for answers, he reveals that he was the little boy that Iris saved and that he has helped her with her research of Death’s design.
Final Destination Bloodlines Confirms Bludworth Isn’t Death
The Character Himself Is About To Die
William Bludworth’s backstory in the new movie confirms that he is not actually Death in the franchise. His connection to Final Destination Bloodlines‘ Skyview incident explains why he is so intimately familiar with Death’s machinations, and more so than any other doctor, mortician, or law enforcement official who appears in the franchise. He simply has a close relationship with Death rather than actually being an avatar for the enтιтy, having seen its influence over events since he was young and having studied it for nearly as long. He has also witnessed the results of multiple other premonitions throughout his career.
Final Destination Bloodlines further cements the fact that Bludworth is not Death by confirming that the mortician himself is on Death’s list and that he has a terminal illness. During his final onscreen moments in the franchise (which will also be the final moments for Tony Todd himself, as the actor died of stomach cancer in 2024) he revealed that he was the final Skyview survivor on Death’s list and that he intended to embrace however much life he had left.
Considering the fact that Death managed to kill off all of Iris’ descendants by the end of the movie, this implies that Bludworth will probably have died by the time that Final Destination 7 begins, should the sequel be greenlit.
Final Destination Debunking The Bludworth Is Death Theory Was For The Best
The Franchise Works Better With An Unknowable Antagonist
While Final Destination Bloodlines‘ additions to the canon more or less completely shut down the theory that William Bludworth is Death, this was the right move for the franchise to make for several reasons. One important reason is that this prevents the franchise from personifying its villain. Keeping the methods and motivations of Death unknowable helps make the enтιтy’s encroachment upon the lives of its victims feel inevitable, which is an important factor that has helped propel the horror of every installment in the franchise. It also prevents the victims from being able to converse, and potentially negotiate, with Death.
Misunderstanding Death’s rules has resulted in the demises of multiple characters, including Bloodlines leads Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) and Charlie Reyes (Teo Briones), who incorrectly believed that they had properly killed and resurrected Stefani to interrupt Death’s design.
Additionally, Final Destination Bloodlines‘ confirmation that the fan theory is untrue prevents the franchise from becoming too directly ᴀssociated with Tony Todd, who will be unable to appear in any further installments. It also prevents installments like The Final Destination and Final Destination 3 from canonically suffering in any way from the fact that Bludworth does not appear during the story. Keeping William Bludworth as more of a Renfield figure also allows the franchise to move forward and introduce other characters who perform a similar function down the road.
