Final Destination Bloodlines ended up being the last role for Tony Todd, who died of cancer in November at 69. Because Todd knew he was ill going into filming, directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein wanted to give him and his character, William Bludworth, a proper goodbye.
How did Final Destination Bloodlines say goodbye to Tony Todd?
Despite his illness, Todd urged the directors to “not write him out of the movie,” saying he wanted to participate. Stein and Lipovsky shared what it meant to work with Todd in an interview with GamesRadar+.
“When he got there on set, he was so incredibly joyful and excited to be there, and excited to meet the new cast and basically give Bludworth not only a proper ending, but a proper beginning,” Stein said. “And a proper explanation for who his character is as a person.”
William Bludworth first appeared in Final Destination as the coroner who explains the rules of death to the teenagers who face it. Bludworth would also make appearances in Final Destination 2 and Final Destination 5. In Bloodlines, Stein made sure to work with Todd to develop Bludworth’s farewell.
“We really worked closely with him to not only give a goodbye in the movie for his character to the other characters, but to craft what we thought might be a goodbye to the audience, because these Final Destination movies take several years to make,” says Stein. “We knew this would probably be his last Final Destination movie. We didn’t realize it would be his last movie. We wanted him to be able to say goodbye. We asked him in that final moment to put it in his own words. You know, put the script away. What do you wanna say to your fans? What has all this been about? You know, what is life about?”
Stein called Todd’s appearance “inspirational,” citing that the late actor spoke “directly from the heart to the audience.”
Final Destination Bloodlines arrives in theaters on May 16, 2025.
(Source: GamesRadar+)
