What happens to William Bludworth in Final Destination: Bloodlines?

It's very moving to see horror legend Todd – who passed away at the age of 69 in November last year – reprise the role one last time, and co-director Zach Lipovsky previously reflected on the experience of working with Todd during an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com.

"We were so grateful to have him there," he said. "We knew he was ill when we were working on the film and writing the film, and he was very, very eager to be in the movie, even though he was sick."

If you've not yet seen the film – or perhaps just need a reminder – you might be wondering exactly what happens to his character in his final appearance.

Read on for everything you need to know – but beware, there are major spoilers for Final Destination Bloodlines ahead.

What happens to William Bludworth in Final Destination: Bloodlines?

Throughout the films, Bludworth has appeared – normally fairly briefly – to provide some tips and tricks about how to cheat death, and in the new film we finally find out why he's so clued up on the topic.

It turns out that Bludworth is one of the few people who had successfully managed to cheat death himself. In the film's opening premonition sequence – which takes place at a dance party at the Skyview Restaurant Tower – we see a young child present, who is one of those to have been saved by Iris's call to evacuate the tower after her premonition.

This child – who is named JB – turns out to be none other than Bludworth himself. This means that he has been marked for death all this time, but because Iris was meant to have died before him, he was safe as long as she was successfully cheating death.

Bludworth's appearance in the film comes after Stefani finds a reference to JB in Iris's notebook and they track him down to the hospital where he now works. When they find him, he explains that he and Iris have been in regular contact since that fateful night and have been sharing ideas about the possible ways to cheat death.

After passing on his research to Stefani and her group, he also gives them one more bombshell: he is very sick and is expecting to die soon, especially now that Iris has passed away. He admits that he will now retire so that he can make the most of the time he has left, telling them: "Life is precious. Enjoy every single second. You never know when."

Speaking further about the scene, co-director Lipovsky explained: "So it presented itself as a potential moment where we could give his character, that he's had in all these films, more of a backstory.

"To make him a bit more of a character rather than this sort of mentor figure that shows up. [And] give a bit more of an explanation of who he is, which he was very excited about.

"And then also craft the ability for him to have a goodbye. You know, when we were filming that scene we knew that it was likely his last Final Destination movie, and potentially his last movie ever.

"The narrative was built around that idea that Bludworth would be saying goodbye to the characters, but also, on another level, that he was saying goodbye to the audience."

Final Destination Bloodlines is now showing in UK cinemas.

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