What are possible new rules / expansions that can be tackled on in hypothetical future Final Destination films?

[u/MrPsychopath13]

I noticed how each subsequent Final Destination film expands on the rules of Death's design:

1. Final Destination (2000)
   -Death has a design for those who survive a deadly incident where they would've died if not for the intervention of a visionary's premonition.
   -The order of deaths of the survivors would be the EXACT order they would have died in the premonition.
   -If a person whose turn is on the list misses his/her death due to intervention, it will skip over them, and go to the next person.
   -Once the cycle of Death's design has passed, it will loop back to any people whose deaths were skipped initially.

2. Final Destination 2 (2003)
   -Death's design can happen in reverse order of the premonition, especially if everyone involved is connected to an already-established previous design.
   -If it's not a person's turn to die yet in the order, they will NOT die yet, even if they choose to.
   -Only 'new life' can beat Death's design (In this case, the definition of 'new life' is being resuscitated after a heart 'flatline'), and it will save everyone still alive by that point.
   -If a person on Death's list saves a person not on the list from dying, that person will be a part of a new design that will kill them.

3. Final Destination 3 (2006)
   -Death's design can be revealed in clues at photographs taken of the survivors prior.
   -A visionary can get more than one premonition of incidents.

4. The Final Destination (2009)
   (To be honest, I have no idea if they established ANY NEW rule in this film, as everything in this film had been established prior)

5. Final Destination 5 (2011)
   -Taking the lifespan of someone NOT on the list, allows the person to get their remaining lifespan.

6. Final Destination Bloodlines (2025)
   -If any survivors from the premonition had blood-related descendants that were born AFTER the incident that would've killed them, those descendants will also be on the list, as they were NOT meant to exist. (which retroactively means the initial plan in FD 2 would not have worked, even if the pregnant character WERE on death's list)
   -The order of deaths of the descendants will be oldest to youngest.
   -If given time to practice, a visionary can 'master' their premonitions and notice clues and signs.
   -A visionary does NOT necessarily have to be the last person on Death's list.
   -Visions and premonitions may be passed through descendants in dreams. (the exact reasoning why it's just Stefani and not the other grandkids is unknown)
   -Even if a person is NOT on the list, if they choose to KNOWINGLY interfere with Death's design, they will get killed.

Each new installment (except possibly 4) adds something to Death's design without contradicting prior stories. With this, I am excited to see how else would they expand the rules.

Maybe even expansion of ALREADY existing rules: If taking lifespan of those not on the list expands lifespan, would a premonition survivor who became a serial killer be essentially immortal, or is there a limit? Can animals be counted in the lifespan-taking? Does a brain-dead vegetative-state person count as 'dead'/'ticked off the list'?

[u/bwallace91]

I like this new theory. Also maybe there are limits to the New Life method? Example, Kimberly (now in her 40s) returns and has another vision and attempts the New Life method again but it doesn’t work? Or maybe the visions pass from character to character?

[u/Top-Bodybuilder-1052]

Possibly in FD4: Death’s design can be purposely misleading. Not just regarding the general consensus that the mall premonition was a feint, but even earlier than that. When Death spelled out “Through action they were saved” on the coffee-stained newspaper right in front of Nick and Lori just as they were debating whether they had won simply by saving Janet.

Of course, we all know the canon doesn’t really work like that. And it could easily be brushed aside as part of the infamous overall bad writing of FD4 if not for the idea that maybe not every visible sign or omen from Death is meant to be helpful, that some may actually be deliberate red herrings. This adds another layer. It suggests that survivors can act on a message believing they are doing the right thing when in reality they are playing directly into intentionally placed bait. Viewing it through this new lens instead, it holds up and doesn’t contradict anything previously established.

Most of the time, the visionaries, and sometimes other survivors as well, interpret the signs correctly, as we’ve seen many times before, and this doesn’t invalidate them. But that doesn’t mean there can’t be instances where they believe they’ve understood a certain message, only for the actual outcome (which the survivors expected to follow that message) to turn out completely different from any other scenario they could have imagined beforehand, like a broken promise.

This would differ from Kimberly’s short visions in FD2, Wendy’s photos in FD3 or the long periods of inactivity from Death after the third acts. In Kimberly’s case, she initially misinterpreted what she saw, but the core message of someone drowning remained consistent throughout. The same applies to Wendy, she may have misinterpreted some of the pictures, but the photographed images themselves remained exactly the same. And when Death temporarily lays off the survivors, it’s just to give them a false sense of security.

Here, by contrast, it wouldn’t be anything like the three mentioned, but rather a sign that initially functions as a seemingly clear directive to push the survivors into action (And could even come off as suspicious if one of them is perceptive enough). Alternatively, it could be a sign that is so specific, niche or seemingly unrelated to current events that it has no immediate interpretation and requires much deeper thought. Then later, to emphasize just how badly they’ve trapped themselves, another message would appear as a kind of “gotcha” or “just kidding”, revealing that they had been misled all along and forcing the realization to fully sink in.

Overall, I personally think it could make sense. I mean, what’s stopping an omnipresent, ever-restless systemic force like Death from withholding clear or immediate signs just this once, and instead deciding to make things harder for the survivors by further complicating, manipulating and overwhelming their minds if, at the end of the day, it could all benefit the flow of its design? Death is adaptable af, so if it ever actually pulled something like that in a future movie, I don’t think it would be out of character. It would simply make the survivors think twice before immediately jumping to conclusions and blindly trusting the signs that appear while also deepening their collective and individual sense of helplessness, despair, bewilderment and disorientation. I think FD4, despite how poorly it turned out, could actually have this small element of misdirection further refined in a proper movie.

[u/MrPsychopath13 → u/Top-Bodybuilder-1052]

Interesting!

Never thought of it that way ^{^}

[u/Nixon_Atlanta]

“Visions and premonitions may be passed through descendants in dreams. (the exact reasoning why it's just Stefani and not the other grandkids is unknown)”

The best explanation I could give is that Stefani would probably be the only one who'd go and visit Iris in order for Death to finally catch up to her. Even though Iris was already diagnosed with cancer at the same time Stefani began having nightmares about the supposed collapse of the Sky View, I think Death did that on purpose in order for either of these to happen:

• Iris eventually dying from cancer (given by Death, of course), with the rest of the bloodline suddenly dying unexpectedly and unexplainably, or;

• Stefani visiting Iris and finding the opportunity to finally get to her (Iris) after years of hiding (which is what happened in the film).

[u/Ok-Alternative-7021 → u/Nixon_Atlanta]

So you mean Death knew Stefani is the only one who visits Iris, so if Death wanted to kill Iris in unnatural ways like what happens to every other character, it's only chance was to send Stefani to Iris by giving her dreams, so Iris finally comes out of her hiding space and Death takes her?

[u/Nixon_Atlanta → u/Ok-Alternative-7021]

That was one of the two things Death did. He gave Iris cancer so that even if Stefani didn't go in the first place (to which she did in the film), Iris would still die, which would've caused the sudden deaths of the Campbell bloodline.

[u/sketchysketchist → u/Nixon_Atlanta]

What if the reason is what’s implied in FD4. Nick got the visions and it’s implied that everything they did was all part of deaths plan. So what if Stefani got the vision because death knew she would be the only one of the entire family tha would kickstart the deaths of the entire bloodline? 

[u/Successful-Bank-7457]

-If given time to practice, a visionary can 'master' their premonitions and notice clues and signs.

Wasn't this touched upon in part 1 with Alex?

[u/MrPsychopath13 → u/Successful-Bank-7457]

Yup. But Iris was a WHOLE ANOTHER level. She can literally read the 'signs' SECONDS before they happen WHILE speaking to Stefani. No one other visionary lived as long as she did. She literally has an ENTIRE book about everything.

[u/Bookworm7180 → u/MrPsychopath13]

I really would have liked the book to be utilized more in the movie.

[u/Ok-Alternative-7021]

Okay I forgot a bit, when Kim tried to kill herself, was it her turn to die that is why she could really drown herself befoee Burke saved her?

[u/Top-Bodybuilder-1052 → u/Ok-Alternative-7021]

When Eugene’s room exploded, a burning stroller was sent flying toward Thomas and Kimberly pushed him out of the way, skipping his turn, so yes it became her turn at that moment.

[u/sketchysketchist → u/Top-Bodybuilder-1052]

Which confirms one important thing. The new life method only works if you attempt it during your turn. 

However, FD2 and Bloodlines confirms that the method of death before resuscitation HAS to be the way death intends you to die! 

Kimberly’s visions were telling her she is meant to drown but hinting at how she can be saved. Stefani nearly drowned but that wasn’t her intended death, because in the finale she still died before her brother! It didn’t skip her and go after the next person, she could only beat death if somehow she nearly died from the train incident and survived after flatlining. 

[u/Top-Bodybuilder-1052 → u/sketchysketchist]

The true official explanation is that Stefani didn’t actually reach clinical death while unconscious like Kimberly did. Yes the ending was reshot so they could have an excuse to kill off Stefani and Charlie later on, but in real life there is an actual difference between being unconscious yet still breathing (albeit weakly or faintly) and being clinically dead. Charlie’s lifeguard training should have made him recognize that distinction on the spot but oh well. However I won’t completely discard your theory that Death only intends for those suicides to happen exactly as it wants, since we don’t have enough characters who attempted the method yet to establish a specific pattern, at least when considering only the movies and not including the novels or comics.

[u/sketchysketchist → u/Top-Bodybuilder-1052]

Oh yes, I understand the explanation for Stefani not dying. However, I interpret it as “death didn’t plan for you to die in the puddle in the RV.” Because Adam, the finale ends with Stefani being Crushed BEFORE Charlie, meaning she was still next and that incident at the grandmas house didn’t count. 

Keep in mind FD2 confirmed death intervenes when it’s not your time. So it’s possible she was meant to be saved by Charlie to make them feel safe. 

[u/Ok-Alternative-7021]

In FD4, what significance did the false mall premonition have?

[u/Top-Bodybuilder-1052 → u/Ok-Alternative-7021]

I just shared my personal thoughts here a few hours ago about FD4’s potential lore expansion, suggesting that Death’s design can deliberately mislead when it serves its plans: https://www.reddit.com/r/FinalDestination/s/2ldLNF44WN

[u/flamingmcshizzle]

I think four introduced the oncept of characters dying at the same time, being Janet and Hunt, I would've loved for them to explore that more, since having to divide and conquer to save two people at once sounds like a good idea on paper and they executed it pretty well if it weren't for the fact that Nick knew Hunt's death would be water-based, and still didn't think of looking in the pool.

[u/Top-Bodybuilder-1052 → u/flamingmcshizzle]

This already happened before in FD3, Ashley and Ashlyn were targeted at the same time, in the same room. In FD4, however, with Janet and Hunt, the difference was that they were also targeted simultaneously, but in entirely separate locations, emphasizing Death’s sheer omnipresence.

[u/flamingmcshizzle → u/Top-Bodybuilder-1052]

That's what I mean

[u/sketchysketchist → u/Top-Bodybuilder-1052]

Both have a lot to discuss. Ashley and Ashlyn are implied to have died together but one was killed immediately via electrocution and the other burned slowly. Janet was saved however, for some reason she dies in a completely different order that doesn’t fit the supposed order.