An Unproduced Episode of THE X-FILES Became FINAL DESTINATION; Read The Original Script

I wasn’t aware of this, but apparently, the 2000 horror film Final Destination, was originally supposed to be an episode of The X-Files. The story was then reworked and developed into a film, which became a big and successful franchise.

Well, thanks to Final Destination creator Jeffrey Reddick and Bloody-Disgusting, you can now read the original script for that unproduced episode of The X-Files. The script was written in 1994 and it was titled “Flight 180.”

Reddick talked about the script saying, “It was really exciting to find it on an old floppy disc. I typed it in Word…since we didn’t have the luxury of Final Draft back then. It’s definitely fun to read…b ut I wrote it over 20 years ago, so I read some of it and cringed a little. You get better as you get older.”

The X-Files was one of Reddick’s favorite shows at the time and he explains, “I decided to use the basic concept of people cheating Death as the catalyst. But when you write a spec for a series, you want to follow the framework of the show and go deeper. So, 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.”

He goes on to talk about the Final Destination film saying, “But when I decided to write it as a feature [Final Destination], I made the story all about the concept. And tweaked it. 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/skeptic relationship, I had to keep Death vague enough, but clear enough, to fit the concept and investigation into a one-hour show. But it’s interesting to see how this kernel evolved into the original draft of Flight 180 in 1997 – and finally the finished version of the 2000 Final Destination.”

The filmmaker then went on to address rumors that Final Destination was inspired by the crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996, saying, “The biggest misconception about the original spec script is the one that has bothered me the most… When the movie came out in 2000, a lot of reviewers said the story was inspired by the real life crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996. I got flack for that, but I actually wrote this in 1994. I do think the director may have used news footage from the crash in the film, so that’s where that rumor came from.”

Anyway, if you want to read the original script, click here.