Brec Bassinger on joining Final Destination: ‘I’ve never lived in a world without it’
Born after the first Final Destination, actor Brec Bassinger says it feels surreal to lead a franchise that's always existed in her world.
When Final Destination first hit theaters in March 2000, actor Brec Bassinger was still an infant—barely ten months old. Now, 25 years later, she’s stepping into the iconic horror franchise as the lead in Final Destination: Bloodlines. For Brec, it’s more than just a role—it’s a surreal moment of stepping into a cinematic legacy that’s existed her entire life.
“I literally don’t know life without Final Destination. It’s been around forever, so getting cast in it felt completely unreal,” she says, reflecting on what it means to join the long-running series.
Her connection to the franchise runs deeper than being a lifelong fan. Years before Bloodlines, Brec worked with co-director Adam Stein on a pilot. Even more fittingly, she starred opposite Ali Larter—one of the original Final Destination leads—in the thriller The Man in the White Van. During that shoot, Brec remembers peppering Ali with questions about filming horror, especially the scary stuff. “I was so curious about what it was like behind the scenes,” she shares.
In the new film, Brec plays Iris, a young woman on a date in 1969 when things quickly spiral into a classic Final Destination-style disaster. Before chaos erupts, there’s a joyful moment: Iris and her date Paul are dancing to Shout by The Isley Brothers at the Skyview Tower, caught up in the energy of the night. The filming of that sequence turned out to be one of Brec’s most cherished memories from the shoot.
“We were dancing for two days straight,” she recalls, smiling. “Those were honestly some of the most fun moments on set. You can’t help but feel good when you’re jumping around like that,” she adds. But the upbeat mood didn’t last long. As the scene turns dark, Brec says she now associates the song with sheer panic. “I’d downloaded Shout before filming so I could learn the moves. But now, when it plays, I have to skip it. It takes me right back to that moment—the screaming, the chaos, the blood. It’s burned into my brain,” she says.
