Final Destination Reboot Delayed Due To COVID-19

The Final Destination series never quite cracked the pantheon of all-time great horror franchises, but it did come pretty close. The central concept was a great one that perfectly lent itself to sequels, with one character saving the rest of the ensemble’s supporting players from certain doom after experiencing a vision, before Death started to pick them off one by one anyway in a series of elaborate set pieces.

The first installment may have focused on a photogenic group of teens that escaped a plane crash, but when most people think of Final Destination, their mind tends to wander to the second installment’s most famous sequence. Even though the movie came out seventeen years ago, people still get freaked out if they’re driving down the highway and see a logging truck anywhere near them.

It’s been almost a decade since Final Destination 5, which actually scored the best reviews that the franchise had ever seen, and a new entry has been stuck in development hell for almost as long. A reboot was officially announced in January of last year, but there’s been very little word on the project since. However, creator Jeffrey Reddick has now confirmed in a recent interview that the Coronavirus pandemic has presented a pretty serious roadblock.

“They were working on a new Final Destination but that got pushed back because of COVID. It’s always if the formula’s not broken, don’t fix it. But my thing is that Death has so many designs in my brain that it could use. Like, we’re seeing one design with the Rube Goldberg kind of thing. But Death could get us in so many ways. In my original story, which was a little dark because I am a Nightmare on Elm Street fan, Death kind of toyed with them psychologically for some sin or some wrongdoing they did, and they ended up killing themselves. So, that was a little dark. I don’t think I would want to make that movie now, but I just think that Death, it would be fun to explore that world, almost like what we did with the second one. I want to expand on the mythology. If I came back, I would want to do something different.”

Every major horror brand gets rebooted at least once, and fans definitely wouldn’t be against the idea of another Final Destination. The five movies so far have brought in over $665 million at the box office, and the premise is also an easy one to sell to newer audiences who might not be too up to date with the franchise’s history, but based on Reddick’s comments, we may not be seeing it for a while.