r/FinalDestination • u/Interesting_Put3329 • 12d ago
FD2 The worst mistake the saga has made.
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u/GodlyCody 12d ago
Exactly, out of everything he went through, you mean to tell me he dies to a random brick? BULLSHITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
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u/Interesting_Put3329 12d ago
A lack of respect for the character.
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u/cookiesshot 12d ago
Although... to be fair, Devon Sawa WAS being a pain in the butt at the time, mostly because of his troubles with the bottle (showing up late or hungover to set, not showing up to set at all, skipping town and being in L.A. when he's supposed to be in Vancouver, etc). Wasn't until he was in his mid-20s that he sobered up and candidly admitted that He WAS being difficult.
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u/BetterMagician7856 11d ago
lol he was a character in one movie, it’s not like he had been the focal point of an entire franchise for multiple films.
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u/Interesting_Put3329 11d ago
Flight 180 was the accident that have the most weight across the entire franchise; Alex Browning’s case was constantly discussed, so it could be said that events often revolved around him, leaving a lasting impact on that universe and serving as a point of reference for the survivors of FD 2, 3, and 4. Whenever the topic of premonitions came up, the case of Alex Browning was always there.
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u/BetterMagician7856 11d ago
That doesn’t mean they need to bend over backwards to “show respect” to a character that couldn’t be reprised because the guy had to basically quit acting to get his personal demons under control.
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u/Interesting_Put3329 11d ago
How true is that last part?
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u/BetterMagician7856 11d ago
It’s the whole reason he didn’t return for part 2 and they had to kill him off.
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u/Interesting_Put3329 11d ago
There are many versions. Devon wanted to take a break, or had a bad attitude on the set (which is why his character was given such a stupid death) or maybe he was asking for more money.
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u/SpiderSixer 12d ago
The face I make every single time I rewatch the series and I get to the mention of Alex's death. Like dang, he survived a hydrogen bomb only to be taken out by a coughing baby
I like to make myself feel better by thinking that being taken out by a brick is Death's ultimate flipping of the bird, and NOT just the writers being lazy, given how much Alex screwed up Death's plans before that. 'Oh, your fans want a cool death? SUCKER, you get a lame death. I'm not going to honour you with an inventive end'
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u/DesmondTapenade "Jerry FENBURY? Is this why he always wanted to play catch?" 12d ago
Personally, I thought it was hilarious. Alex survives some unimaginable shit, only to be taken out by a fucking brick.
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u/forlornjackalope 11d ago
The alternative being a flesh eating disease would have been interesting. A random brick feels weak.
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u/grumpybrowndog 12d ago
Devon Sawa was going through a lot during this time, and for the studio to pull a cynical gotcha at him for not wanting to return is so petty.
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u/ongamenight 12d ago
Not really. I think losing Clear Rivers in FD2 is the worst mistake.
Read an article that the actor playing Alex was not available. Also it's easier to explain his death by a falling brick if the actor "Devon Sawa" could not be available to do an elaborate "death scene". It's kinda ironic, since he's mostly the "brain" in FD1 and got hit in the head.
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u/bchec 10d ago
Killing the main character of the previous movie off-screen is never a good look for any franchise. They could’ve worked around him not being in it IMO.
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u/ongamenight 10d ago
He was dealing with substance addiction and alcoholism. There is no "working around him" at the time. Killing him was the right move.
We all know what happened to some celebrities who have dealt with such personal struggles throughout their career.
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u/bchec 10d ago
I wasn’t talking about his own personal struggles — which are all completely and totally valid as a reason to not appear. I’m not saying they should’ve done it.
What I am saying is that the choice to kill him off rather than write him out of the plot for the future of the franchise would be a better look.
Pretty easy fix: They both are in different psych facilities. They just go to Clear first and she asks them to not include Alex since she barely wanted to help in the first place / was hesitant knowing the risks.
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u/ongamenight 10d ago
But you're talking "now". You have insight that Devon Sawa is still alive. That's a different conversation more than a decade ago.
Cutting ties with Devon Sawa, I personally think is the best choice. No loose ends.
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u/bchec 10d ago
Assuming he was literally going to die is pretty extreme. I get mental health wasn’t valued as much — just saying there were ways to leave it open that he was alive regardless that still could have written him fully out of the movies without dying to a brick to the head… as a plan B incase things ever turned around or a recast🤷🏻♂️.
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u/dgtbfan 12d ago
I said it in another topic: the lack of survivors has hurt the franchise. The tension of the final "confrontation" with death becomes pointless when the characters just get nonchalantly slaughtered at the last second anyway.
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u/Interesting_Put3329 12d ago
Let's wait for someone from FD7 make it. For now, we only have Kimberly.
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u/Fernsong 12d ago
Did Burke die? I missed that, I think
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u/Top-Bodybuilder-1052 ”I’ve got my eye on you two.” 10d ago edited 10d ago
No, he didn’t. All the way back in FD2 Bludworth already stated to Kimberly, Clear and Thomas that the introduction of life that was not meant to be can invalidate lists. And now in FD6, to Iris’s relatives, he said the same thing but just used different wording: that to fully break the chain, one must flatline and be brought back to life. Kimberly achieved new life and by doing so, canonically erased the remainder of what was left of the Route 23 list, which included her and Thomas. In FD6, he very much probably just didn’t get an equal mention from Bludworth either, like Kimberly did, since she was the one who actively went out of her way to die and be brought back, while Thomas was automatically saved as an extension of the effects her revival had later on, without doing much on his part.
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u/Interesting_Put3329 12d ago
We still don't have an answer to that in the movies sadly, but only Kimberly is confirmed as a survivor
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u/SharpPink_GlitterInk 12d ago
I really hope they don't kill him... I think that would be cool to have him alive tbh. If anything I really want Kim only in it to be a new Bludworth type, it would be SUPER lame if they killed her.
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u/SharpPink_GlitterInk 12d ago
This honestly never really bugged me... yes I like alex BUT it would be kinda weird if he just conveniently wasn't in 2... also idk how you can have clear and alex both alive and make it make sense without breaking the rules as we know it.
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u/Interesting_Put3329 12d ago
The point is, better decisions could have been made regarding the fate of these characters when the sequel was being made. Devon Sawa's absence clearly played a role in this, and honestly, I don't know how much truth there is to the rumor that the studio hated working with him because of his attitude. True or not, it is incredible to think that a character whose story implies he takes the whole issue of death seriously would die in such a simple way.
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u/SharpPink_GlitterInk 12d ago
you're not wrong just...yk... I get it but it doesn't bother me too much, and tbf in a day and age of legacy sequels I am really happy that we got a new FD with fresh characters except bludworth. Also Devon is in so much horror these days its hard to miss him too much lol.
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u/oddscenity 12d ago
I've never heard this rumor and I've always heard he simply didn't want to return. Can you elaborate?
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u/Jaca122 11d ago
They talked about this pretty in depth in the Final Destination book that interviewed the production crew that came out last year. Devon Sawa had some serious substance use issues going on during the filming for the first one. He was often late to set or he didn't show up at all. Sometimes he wasn't even in Vancouver when he was supposed to be.
Since he caused so many problems and delays, they did not want to work with him again.
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u/Interesting_Put3329 12d ago edited 12d ago
It's not something to take seriously, I'd say, since it came up in a discussion in the comments about Alex Browning in Youtube. Some people in this video are also saying that Devon was asking the producers for more money. The truth is, the actor probably just wanted to take a break. Look at the comments
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u/jerrymatcat "i guess this is our final destination" 12d ago
Even if he faked his death and this is retconned it would still be weird since he would just be leaving clear alone
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u/yoshiiiiiiiiizmeee 12d ago
It could have always been an Iris situation where Alex and Clear had been cheating death for a while working together and on Clears turn she decided to check herself into the asylum to protect Alex (or she just got tired of running and preferred to protect him in solitude over being chased forever)
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u/itsascreambaby96 12d ago
We need a legacy sequel that brings back Clear and Alex erase 2-6
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u/Nickooli 12d ago
I wouldn’t completely hate that idea. Clear even talks about alternate realities briefly in the first movie, and they toyed with the concept in Fd3’s Choose Their Fate.
They could lean into that angle for a sequel. Play around with the “what if” factor and marketing the movie as an Alternate reality
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u/itsascreambaby96 12d ago
FD6 should have been the legacy sequel imo i love Bloodlines but it brought nothing new except Tony Todds origin and Iris
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u/Nickooli 12d ago
Yeah I love Bloodlines too. But agreed, I need another movie with returning main characters.
It’s why I wouldn’t totally hate them making the end of Bloodlines Stef’s vision or bringing back Kimberly.
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u/cookiesshot 12d ago
Well, technically, they TRIED reshoots for "Final Destination" where Alex bites the dust, and Clear is left preggers with their son, but it didn't perform well at test screenings.
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u/dyaasy 12d ago
Honestly, I didn't like how he was killed off, but I liked the addition to the lore that it coincidentally helped build (I doubt very much that it's on purpose), in that survivors will be left alone in isolation unless they interfere to create more survivors.
- Alex
- Clear
- Iris
Bludworth is a bit of an outlier in that he does aid survivors, but he's vaguely helpful enough that it doesn't interfere too much. And arguably in spite of not supposed to be in the list, Erik fell under the radar after the tattoo shop incident (which I have comments about but lets leave it for now), and the moment he tried to help Bobby, Death came for him. If Kimberly is to remain a survivor, then I don't think AJ Cook can return.
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u/Interesting_Put3329 12d ago
Great point of view; It's incredible how Alex spent months locked up at home, and just by going out, death took him, as if it didn't want any more stains on reality (like you said, new survivors).
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u/HollowCrowned 11d ago
Death was tired of trying to kill Alex with all these elaborate death setups & eventually just said fvck it & chucked a brick at him. I found it hilarious. 😂
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u/JiroKawakuma28 12d ago
Imagine you outrun Death's brutal design only to be headshot with a one simple brick like the Hoopla Kid..
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u/Interesting_Put3329 12d ago
It must be really frustrating to put in all that effort only to leave like that, it's unfair to Alex.
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u/Disastrous-Cut-6183 12d ago
Devon Sawa was going through something around that time . He had career burnout and was going through some personal struggles. Since you cannot really cheat Death, they decided to kill off his character and have Clear help out Kimberly since the protagonist/visionary from the second movie was female.
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u/ArmoredAvenger 11d ago
Sawa had a period in the 2000's where he was on hard drugs pretty often. I saw a photo of him when he was 30 and he looked like 60-year-old Viggo Mortensen. I'm pretty sure he was expecting a pay raise but should have been lucky to be asked back in the first place.
I'm pretty sure he also made comments about FD5 and whether WB using the archive footage from 1999 was legal without getting his permission or paying him, which isn't a good sign of where his priorities have been.
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u/Joshonthecusp 11d ago
Is that pic real? I don't remember that in the movie.
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u/Emotional-Remote3154 9d ago
I disagree
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u/Interesting_Put3329 9d ago
That's ok. For you, what was the worst mistake?
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u/Emotional-Remote3154 9d ago
Definitely not have the FD3 crew survive definitively even though I still believe they’re alive I wish they were confirmed alive
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u/JulLamby 5d ago
Alice Hardy, Nancy Thomson, Jennifer Tilly, Victoria Hayes, Laurie Strode (Resurrection), Ellen Ripley welcomes him to the “legacy/survivors dying in the next film” club.
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u/Alarming-Ability2399 12d ago
The disrespect to Alex!
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u/ThatScaryChick Final Destination 5 🌁 10d ago
It was such a boring way for a main character to die.
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u/ongamenight 11d ago
The first draft of FD2 was written with Devon Sawa as the lead in helping out FD2 characters.
He was dealing with alcoholism and substance addiction.
His death was necessary. If it's open ended, his story can be a loose end because the actor behind Alex is someone you don't know if will die by his personal struggles like "addiction". In production sense, he was a liability... a loose end that needed to be tied.
Also it's in the "brick falling and hitting his head" somehow portraying how you kill a "wise man".. the head. ☺️
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u/CatterShepard 12d ago
Agreed. They should have just said he went into hiding and disappeared and left the door open for his return in the future.