The X-Files returned earlier this year television sets around the globe, as Mulder and Scully (David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson) reprised their roles as FBI-sceptics solving supernatural goings-on. The show originally finished in 2002 and is still revered by sci-fi fans for it’s unflinching dedication to crafting some of the most bizarre and terrifying TV seen in the US for decades. But it could have got a lot more terrifying back in 1994 if Final Destination creator Jeffrey Reddick got his way.
In a new interview with bloodydisgusting.com, Reddick has revealed that he originally pitched Final Destination, the 2000 teen-horror flick, as an episode of The X-Files to Fox. “I decided to use the basic concept of people cheating death as the catalyst,” Reddick said, before adding that it played a bit of a dark role in his original script. “I had Scully’s brother have the premonition, which made the story more personal. I won’t spoil the rest, but for the spec script, the concept isn’t front and center, it’s more about Scully, Mulder and her relationship with her brother.”
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The script was originally titled ‘Flight 180’ when it was first penned in 1994, and Reddick noted that the original script and the version that made it to the big screen are very different. “I think fans will be most interested in seeing how the kernel of the concept started in 1994. Death worked differently in this version. Since Mulder and Scully had the believer/sceptic relationship, I had to keep death vague enough, but clear enough, to fit the concept and investigation in to a one-hour show.
Final Destination was released six years later, and spawned four gruesome sequels, a novel and a comic book series based, so Reddick can’t rue what might have been. But still, we’re sure Mulder and Scully would have got the bottom of this a lot quicker than a bunch of teenagers.