When Final Destination: Bloodlines hit theaters on May 16, 2025, it ended a 14-year drought since the last film, leaving fans wondering what took so long. Producer Craig Perry, the only person involved in all six Final Destination movies, recently spilled the beans in a Collider interview, shedding light on the messy journey to bring the franchise back. From studio shake-ups to global crises, the path to Bloodlines was as twisted as the franchise’s infamous death traps.
The saga began in 2011, when Final Destination 5 shocked audiences with its prequel twist and grossed $157 million worldwide. Despite its success, New Line Cinema didn’t rush into a sequel. Perry told Collider that about five years later, around 2016, they started developing a new script, but it “didn’t quite work out.” A change in studio leadership stalled things further, as new execs wanted a fresh vision. “Regime changes can kill momentum,” Perry said, explaining how shifts at Warner Bros. and New Line left the project in limbo. By the time they regrouped, the idea was to reimagine the series, possibly focusing on first responders like EMTs and firefighters, but early drafts fizzled.
Then came the big blows: the COVID-19 pandemic and Hollywood strikes. Perry told Deadline that these disruptions “pushed the timeline longer than we ever wanted.” The pandemic halted development in 2020, just as creator Jeffrey Reddick confirmed a sixth film was in the works. The 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes added more delays, forcing the team to wait out picket lines. “It was a long, hard slog,” Perry said on social media when filming finally began in March 2024. These external roadblocks turned what might’ve been a five-year gap into a much longer wait.
A turning point came when Jon Watts, the Spider-Man director and a lifelong Final Destination fan, pitched a new story. “Jon came to us and said, ‘I’ve got an idea,’ and we were like, ‘That would work,’” Perry recalled to Deadline. Watts’ concept, co-written with Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor, shifted the focus to a family cursed by a 1960s premonition, adding emotional depth to the series’ signature gore. This hooked directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein, who won over New Line with a wild Zoom pitch involving a staged death hoax. But scripting and refining this vision took two more years, with Perry noting the need to balance old fans’ expectations with a new audience’s fresh perspective.
The franchise’s own history didn’t help. Perry admitted to Entertainment Weekly that The Final Destination (2009) “sucks” and nearly tanked the series. Its success—$187 million globally—kept it alive, but the weak story and cheap 3D effects left a bad taste. “We had to redeem ourselves with 5,” he said, and the pressure to avoid another misstep made the team cautious. They wanted Bloodlines to feel like a true comeback, not a cash grab. That meant extra time to nail the tone, craft intricate kills, and honor Tony Todd’s final role as William Bludworth, who passed away in November 2024. “We wanted to give Tony a beautiful send-off,” Perry told Deadline, describing the actor’s emotional, improvised scene.
Fans on social media have mixed feelings about the delay. Some, like @NextBigFlick, cheered the care taken, posting, “Perry’s team made sure it was worth the wait.” Others, like @HorrorFan88, griped, “14 years is insane, they should’ve moved faster.” Critics, though, are thrilled, with Bloodlines earning a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes for its “gnarly deaths” and family-driven story. The film’s $45 million opening weekend suggests fans are back on board, but Perry’s candid about the challenges—studio politics, global disruptions, and a commitment to quality—show why Death kept audiences waiting so long.
