Final Destination Star Compares Coronavirus Self-Quarantine to the Events of the Film

Twenty years ago, Devon Sawa appeared in Final Destination, a career-defining role that would launch a long-running film franchise…and today, he’s looking back on it with a little bit of deja vu. Taking to social media earlier today, Sawa compared self-quarantining to avoid the novel coronavirus to a scene from the film in which he isolated himself to hide from inexplicable death delivered by the universe itself. If you’ve never seen it, Final Destination centers around a group of teens who, after one of them has a premonition that they are going to die in a plane crash, flee the aircraft and save themselves from a fiery midair death.

Unfortunately for them, death itself was after them. The characters were picked off one at a time, usually dying painful and extraordinarily complicated deaths. And that’s how Sawa’s character eventually ended up hiding out in isolation.

“Final Destination was released 20 years ago today,” Sawa tweeted. “Remember that scene in the movie where I quarantined myself in that cabin so death couldn’t get me? I’m doing that right f—ing now, in real life!”

A long-in-development follow-up to Final Destination seems to finally be getting some momentum (as much as anything can right now, with Hollywood paralyzed by the coronavirus quarantine). Yesterday, reports emerged that series creator Jeffrey Reddick confirms that the new film will still fall within the canon of the initial five films, while producer Craig Perry teased that the film will take place in the world of rescue workers.

“The horror geek in me is excited when they’re doing a new one, I really like those writers a lot. I’ve been talking to Craig and the concept behind it is unique,” Reddick told Digital Spy. “I think ‘reboot’ is probably too strong of a word, it makes it sound like they’re going to change everything, but it’s definitely a Final Destination movie.”

Sawa himself has expressed enthusiasm for a follow-up in the past, saying, “They essentially started fresh every time, kind of, but I guess this is a whole new team. I have been a fan of the franchise. I went to the premiere of number five. I thought that was the best one of the series just because of the 3D and the directors did a fantastic job. So I am excited. I have always been excited and, you know, it gets people watching the first again. It starts the whole debate. Is it better than the first? It’s a good time.”