Final Destination Bloodlines Writer Opens Up About Reviving the Beloved Franchise

Guy Busick enjoys getting his hands bloody — perhaps a little too much. The screenwriter chronicled Ghostface’s reign of terror in 2022’s Scream and then in Scream VI. He blew up a Satan-worshipping family to smithereens in Ready or Not. Plus, he locked a ragtag gang of kidnappers in a mansion with a vampire ballerina in Abigail. But Busick’s most bizarre and gory killing spree arguably transpires in Final Destination Bloodlines. A box office smash, the sixth installment of the franchise once again finds Death picking off victims who had previously avoided an untimely fate. This time around, however, it is a whole family’s bloodline at stake.

The newest chapter in New Line Cinema’s bloody successful franchise takes audiences back to the very beginning of Death’s twisted sense of justice — Final Destination Bloodlines. Plagued by a violent recurring nightmare, college student Stefanie heads home to track down the one person who might be able to break the cycle — her grandmother, Iris — and save her family from the grisly demise that inevitably awaits them all.

ComicBook caught up with Busick to break down Death’s grand design, those gruesome kills, his wishlist for future chapters, Sidney’s role in Scream 7, Tara and Sam’s absence, as well as shattering the Ready or Not universe.

ComicBook: Before landing on this high-rise restaurant tower disaster in Final Destination Bloodlines, what were some other ideas that you bandied around? And in what ways did this one check off all the boxes for you?

Guy Busick: There was actually a scripted version that was a river boat. That was the original idea that Jon Watts had pitched. We went through the development process with the river boat and had some real fun kills. It was like a clandestine gambling den. It was the high-class gamblers and then the crew. Our character was a last-minute addition, working in the gambling parlor. A friend had dragged her along. It was a fun thing.

I believe it was when directors Adam [B. Stein] and Zach [Lipovsky] came onboard and we were rattle-testing everything. Their feeling was the opening disaster, in all these movies, is something that is a universal experience. We can all be afraid of a plane crash or a traffic pileup or a roller coaster and a bridge. Maybe not NASCAR, but even then, it’s a sporting event. They felt the river boat was something that maybe not so many people had experienced. There was the fear of water and the fear of drowning, which were relatable. But they really pushed to find something more universal in terms of human experience. We settled on heights and not just heights, but being trapped in a high place when something was going horribly, horribly wrong. Co-writer Lori Evans Taylor and myself, Zach and Adam and the whole team were all brainstorming. There were a few other ideas that I am sure came and went. But, when we found this, it clicked and we all latched onto it and decided this was the way to go, kind of a Space Needle-type restaurant, where something goes wrong and people can’t get down. Chaos ensues.

The restaurant boasts a glass floor. It could have simply broken and attendees consequently fall to their death. The movie version was more elaborate than that. How much trial and error, and mapping the beats out, did this sequence require?

It took a minute. I give all the credit in the world to Lori. She did a lot of the heavy lifting, so to speak, on this sequence. I think we talked a lot about it conceptually. She took the first run on the pages and I was blown away. I didn’t have to do much, which is nice when you are a writing team. When you look at something and you are like, “Oh, this is already great. I could just add a little bit of gravy here.” But I think we landed on the penny pretty early.

There is this little brat and that he would dig a penny out of the fountain, and the penny would cause all the problems. I know we had a piano pretty early and I know we had a fire component pretty early. The rest of it wasn’t trial and error, in so much as, “Let’s just keep raising the bar. Let’s keep adding another wrinkle. Let’s turn over another card.” I think some of it we were able to bring over from the river boat. I know that there was a woman that caught on fire and started an explosion. There were a lot of people being rushed by things. This is why it’s a dream project to write because these are the fun days of just sitting on a Zoom, or sitting in person, with Lori and I just going, “How do we kill people in a really fun and gross and creative way?” It was a long process, but the big pieces came very quickly.

Where did the idea come for starting in the past and targeting this family in the present day?

That was all Jon Watts. My first connection with this project, and Lori’s as well, was we were invited to participate in a roundtable where Jon and his producing partner Diane had pitched this idea of the family line. He was a fan of the franchise and came in and said, “I don’t think I can write or direct this. I have too many other commitments, but here’s an idea.”

New Line, of course, loved it because it’s brilliant. Then, Lori and myself and a few other horror writers were invited to read the treatment that Jon had given to New Line and pitch on it. “Here’s the structure of the thing or the big idea. Now what would you do with the movie?” A lot of it was just kill sequences and kill order and what the rules were this time and what the deal is with Tony Todd’s character. “Let’s finally get into that.” That was something Jon was always curious about and so was I. We had a really fun day of horror writers just pitching ideas. Then, she and I were contacted separately. “Hey, would you like to pitch on this to write it?”

Lori and I both had a bunch of other commitments at the time. But, like you, I am a huge fan of the franchise. I remember every time I saw each of these for the first time. The franchise was influential on me. We were like, “Oh man. We are both so busy, but it’s Final Destination and we don’t want to let it go.” We decided to team up and pitch together, so we could share the load. We had never written together. We had just been friends for a long time, probably about 20 years. We trusted each other, but when we came in, Jon had carved a path for us. All we were hired to do was flesh it out, figure out the rest of the beats in the movie and just go write it. But it was Jon’s brilliant idea to start in the past and then when we pull out of the eyeball this time, it’s decades later. “Hey, that’s a twist. We haven’t seen that before.” The challenge was how to make it make sense.

Did you have a reason for why Iris was the one with the premonition? Did you craft a backstory where she was also the descendent of a tragedy, as well? Was there an explanation why she specifically had it?

No, we didn’t overthink that. The premonition character in the previous five movies just sort of had it. I love that [Final Destination 5] was a prequel to [the original]. I feel like the more you explain that, the less fun and interesting it is. It’s Final Destination language that you have a character that has this ability to see five seconds into the future and realize that something terrible is going to happen.

Now, in a future instalment, I would love somebody to answer that. Where do the premonitions come from? We talked about that a lot, but it felt like, “No, let’s just go with it because we already have one big change,” which is the time jump. If you start taking on too much exposition, it can start to feel a little bit too loaded with rules and explanations. It’s basically like if Devon Sawa’s character in one was successful in trying to death proof that cabin. What if he had succeeded for decades? This is that movie.

Why was it important to delve into Tony Todd’s character Bludworth and tie him into the film’s mythology?

We just love that character and we love the actor so much. It is such a cool and mysterious character, who just pops up in most of these movies, has some wisdom, says some ominous stuff and fades into the background. But it’s Tony Todd. He has a wonderful presence and that voice … He’s such a wonderful actor. It was really special that we got to craft his origin story. Jon and Diane asked, “What’s the deal with this guy?”

There were a lot of conversations about whether he is a manifestation of Death. Is he a messenger for Death? What is his connection to these disasters? It just felt really nice and organic and simple to say, “When he was a little boy, he was involved in one of these and somebody saved his life.” That was a primal and emotional starting point for the character that felt right. From there, it was like, “Oh, we know Todd is not in the best of health and we think we can get him for this.” We took such great care in writing this because we knew it was probably the last time he would be reprising the Bludworth character. And that character is so important to fans and was so important to us, that we were like, “We have to get this right.” I get emotional just thinking about it, but seeing Todd in that scene and his final words that he improvised. “What would you like to say to the fans?”

He came up with that last bit. It’s so beautiful. I feel honored to have written for that character and to be a part of the contribution to figuring out where he came from.

You go into a Final Destination movie and believe there’s a by-the-book formula. There’s definitely twists and turns in this one. How essential was it to switch up the rules for Death, specifically if you kill somebody it can extend your life expectancy?

Well, in all of these movies, part of the juggling act is you have to figure out a clever way for the characters to figure out the order, so they can try to prevent it before the clock runs out, essentially. The other thing is what are the rules in terms of, “Is it something you can stop?” Final Destination 2 and 5 were our reference points. In 2, Kimberly is able to survive past the end of the movie. Her and the cop character make it to the end credits. That’s the only time that happens in the whole franchise.

Then in 5, they introduce through Tony Todd’s Bludworth the idea that if you were to take someone else’s life, you would get that time for yourself, but you don’t know how much it is. I’m a big fan of continuity. I’m a comic book nerd. With the Scream franchise, my co-writer, mentor, and friend James Vanderbilt and me approached that as fans. We were like, “All of that happened. Every one of these movies happened. And all these characters exist.” It’s okay to reference that. You don’t want to make it a burden for the viewer, like you have to have seen all the previous entries. You want it to be a full meal. But for the fan, like you and me and the comic book nerds, it’s nice to reference those things.

I always loved it when I was reading a comic and it’s like, “Remember in issue #241…” And I would be like, “Oh, I didn’t read that. Now I am going to go get it.” It’s just really cool and fun. So, we were like, “2 and 5 explain how you can stop it, so let’s use that.” When they finally make it to Bludworth and he says, “There is only one person that I know of that ever survived,” and it was the protagonist of Final Destination 2. But there’s also this other thing I sent these people off on, this errand in 5. So, giving the characters that information late in the game was fun because you have these two knuckleheads, Erik and Bobby, who are like, “Okay, Bobby is next. Let’s go rogue. And we are going to be heroes because we are going to stop this whole thing. We are going to save everybody else.” And it’s like, “Oh no, no. Death is already ahead of you. He’s been ahead of you this whole time.” They ask him. “Why wouldn’t everyone have done that?” He basically says, “Because it’s too risky. You never know what is going to happen.” That’s why Iris didn’t do it. That’s why JB isn’t going to do it. It’s too risky.”

It’s a guilty pleasure for viewers to watch Death dispatch his victims in creative and gory fashion. Besides the opening sequence, what demise stands out for you in Bloodlines?

It’s hard to choose. I would have to go to the MRI machine. It’s another universal thing. We’ve all had some experience, whether it’s personal or someone who has done it. We all know it’s a big magnet and these things happen in real life. When Lori and I were looking into it, there have been horrible accidents and tragedies that have happened around these machines. And I just find it so fun to rope Erik back in. Even though he’s not part of the bloodline, it was his hubris of, “Oh, I can outsmart Death,” that roped him into the whole thing.

And then poor Bobby with the peanut allergy. That was something I pitched in the first roundtable. “What if somebody had a peanut allergy and then they intentionally triggered it so they could die and come back?” I might be remembering that wrong. I think it was me, but it’s such a scary thing. I don’t have any allergies like that, but I know people who do and they always have their EpiPen. But I love that whole sequence. It came together beautifully.

One thing I should say is, my gosh, the way Adam and Zach shot these things, it’s some of the best kills in the franchise. It’s not just what was on the page, but the way they elevated it. The way they shot and cut it is so much fun. Kudos to those guys. I think they are brilliant directors.

Death seems to have more personality. How intentional was that?

Kudos to the directors for putting that on the screen. I know Lori and I looked at the other movies and a lot of times there is water. Water seems to almost creep on its own, especially in that first movie. It was important to us. Even with the Iris character, we had the opportunity to create “a person” that she could talk to for the last 20 years in the cabin. This was her only companion. So, she anthropomorphizes Death to be a person, in a way, that she can have conversations with. She looks insane, but is she because Death is a being in these movies. That is really fun. We like the idea that she is talking to Death as if it’s her only friend.

In a genre where we root for the final girl or guy, why kill everybody off? Why does that work for this franchise?

That was a debate for all of us throughout. Is there a way to let Stefani and Charlie live? I’m a big softie, so that is always my preference. “Well, we did it in 2. Why can’t we have a connective character maybe go into the next movie?” But it just feels the big lesson these characters learn by the end of the movie is you just can’t cheat Death. There really isn’t a way out, aside from Kimberly. That is why everybody eventually does die.

I like the idea that through the penny, this was all part of Death’s design. And Death used Stefani to go and knock off Iris, so he could finally check the names off the list that he hadn’t gotten to. Ultimately, I love the moment where it’s like, “Yeah, he brought me back to life.” And the doctor character goes, “Well, no. You didn’t actually die and come back. Your heart stopped. That’s all.” You just know it is going to come full circle and then it does. I feel it’s the right way to end most of the movies in the franchise. I would love to be in the audience for another installment and see that person live and carry on for a few movies. That would be really cool, but I understood why it needed to happen.

Next on your plate is the highly anticipated seventh instalment of Scream. What does having [Neve Campbell’s] Sidney return allow you to explore in this movie?

I don’t want to give anything away about the reason this had to be a Sidney movie because there’s a really cool reason. In all these movies, you have to ask, “Why now? What is the thing Scream is commenting on now?” Scream is always in a conversation with the audience about the state of movies, the state of horror movies and in particular, franchises. There is a really specific reason why Sidney is in this movie. I will say there is a reason and we were happy with it when we cracked it. We went to Neve Campbell and said, “This is why. This is why Sidney now.” Neve was like, “Oh, I get that.” I pitched Kevin [Williamson] this first, too. He got it and then I pitched the studio. I came up with the story with my co-writer on 5 and 6, James Vanderbilt.

The last Screams were based around [Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega’s] Sam and Tara, but they aren’t coming back. How did that alter the blueprint from the original script?

It was a completely different thing. We weren’t able to use what we had in the previous iteration for this one. It was literally you just had to start from scratch, which was a bummer. We were excited about what we had for that movie. We wanted to do one more “Core Four” movie. We know the fans love those characters. We love those characters. We created those characters. I would love to see, in some universe, the continuation of their characters, in some way. But we weren’t able to port over the stuff from the other story. It was like, “Okay, here is what the universe dealt us.” We always wanted to do a Sidney movie and so it was like, “All right, let’s get into it and why now and why this one?”

The Core Four is no more. What does that mean for [Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding’s] Mindy and Chad?

I believe it was James that came up with it. I want to give credit where credit is due, but it was an organic way why they would be in this movie. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I will say it’s through [Courteney Cox’s] Gale. She’s the connective tissue in 5 and 6 and she’s in this. New York was obviously a big part of that. She bonded with those four and there’s a reason why these two come to this town where the action is happening.

How long after the last Scream does the new one take place? And is it in New York City again?

It’s not New York. I don’t want to be the one to spoil where it is. It’s an unspecified amount of time. I might get contradicted by other people, but in my mind, more than two years. I would say at least two years. It could be two years, but I would say two years plus.

Regarding the upcoming Ready or Not: Here I Come, the original felt like a complete story. How did you go about avoiding the dreaded sequel curse for this one?

It was kind of what we did between Scream V and VI, which is throw out the rule book and just go nuts. For us, it was a complete meal. It was a one-and-done. We were all really proud of the movie. We love how it turned out. We love the fact that it did resonate in the horror community. It was the most special to make and I got to write it with my childhood friend, Ryan [Christopher Murphy]. When Searchlight said, “We want to do another one.” We were like, “Okay, we have to make sure there is a reason. It can’t just be to do this again.”

Ryan Christopher Murphy and I sat down at his place, at my house, and we were racking our heads going, “What’s the crazy one?” Things that we reference … Radio Silence, the producers, Ryan and myself … over and over again are Aliens and Terminator 2. How do you blow it up in a way that isn’t even the same genre, but hits all the notes and has the same DNA? Here I Come is a horror movie with humor, just like the first one. But what’s the crazy, bigger world of it?

Ryan and I came up with a pitch and we took it to everybody. We all just got excited and went, “There is a reason for this to exist, that isn’t just to do another one.” It’s so big and fun and strange. More than that, we love the character Grace so much. We love actress Samara Weaving. That is one of the best characters I’ve had a hand in creating. Her performance is so iconic. Samara is such a brilliant actor. We were like, “We want to do it again with her. We just have to make it make sense.” When we hit the idea, we were like, “Yes, we get more Sam. We get more Grace.” It’s been so rewarding. Ryan and I both went up to set this last week and just got back yesterday. We chose that week for a reason. There’s a set piece at the end of the movie — and you will know it when you see it — that had been in our heads for almost six years. We were like, “We have to be there when they shoot.” That set is so cool.

What can you tease about where we meet Grace after the prior events? How is she processing everything that has happened to her?

She hasn’t had a chance to because the movie picks up the second after the first movie ends. Grace wakes up in the hospital. No time has passed for her. The last thing she remembers is her in-laws exploded, including her new husband. They exploded in front of her and covered her in blood. She went outside and had her cigarette. The EMTs and fire department came. The credits roll and it picks up right there. So, when she wakes up, no time has passed. She hasn’t processed any of it and then she’s thrust immediately into another weirder, bigger game that she doesn’t understand … and that we don’t understand at first. There’s a weird kind of logic to it. Because she survived that adventure in the first one, something has now been triggered and has thrown the entire world into disorder.

The sequel encapsulates worldbuilding. Why was that so crucial going into this second chapter?

Worldbuilding was important to us in that even in the first one, we were asking ourselves, “The Le Domas aren’t the only family that has done that.” There’s another family referenced in the first movie, where everyone is asking each other, “Is this real? What would happen if we didn’t kill her? Did our ancestor actually make a pact with the devil or is all this just crap?” Tony references the Van Horns and says, “You know what happened to the Van Horns?” The Fitch character was like, “Didn’t they die in a house fire?” And he was like, “Well, that’s what they told you.” We were like, “Okay, there is a bigger story. So, who are the other families and are they connected? Could there be a network of families that have made these Faustian bargains with the mysterious Le Bail character? And what would that look like?” Those questions just became a lot of fun to chase.

Finally, do you have any thoughts on an Abigail sequel?

Oh boy. I would love to go back to that world. I really love that movie. I think it’s really special. Again, just in case, I don’t want to say what the thing would be, but in the early days, I went and pitched one of the Universal execs, “Here is what I would want to do next.” Probably not a big surprise, but it involves the father, Mr. Lazar.

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Final Destination Bloodlines is in theaters now.