One of the best films of 2025 is the latest in the Final Destination series. Not only is it a hit at the box office, but it’s also a favourite with the critics, scoring a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Final Destination: Bloodlines also has a lot of Vancouver connections. It was filmed in the Lower Mainland, most of the cast and crew are local, including one of the directors, Zach Lipovsky as well as actor Alex Zahara, who has a major role as Uncle Howard. In the photo below, Alex and his wife, Shannon, are with directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein.
This week, we spoke with Alex Zahara about his career, Vancouver, and his experience on Final Destination: Bloodlines.
HNMAG: Did you watch all the previous Final Destination movies?
Alex Zahara: I’ll admit that I am a bit of a wuss when it comes to things like that; I cover my eyes. My wife and I like to watch All Creatures, Great and Small, rather tame stuff, I know! Lol, however, I was born on Halloween, and I love the old monster movies from the 30s and 40s.
HNMAG: Interestingly, it’s mostly Vancouver for the cast & crew?
Alex Zahara: Totally, Richard Harmon plays my son, April Telek plays my wife, and a lot of the crew I have worked with over the years.
HNMAG: Your entire onscreen family.
Alex Zahara: Not quite, however, there is Gabrielle Rose as my mother, and Kaitlyn, who plays my niece, is Canadian as well.
HNMAG: Yes, she played Stephanie. We don’t know where it’s set, though.
Alex Zahara: That’s just it. It’s never specified where it’s set; no town or city is ever mentioned.
HNMAG: We start with the planetarium, then it’s not the planetarium.
Alex Zahara: It’s pretty cool how they did that. You see the front of the planetarium and then putting in the Sky Tower behind.
HNMAG: You can tell from the topography that it’s somewhere in the Northwest. Is part of the appeal that you have all these hints of how the deaths will happen, but you can’t quite guess correctly?
Alex Zahara: Except for mine, you pretty much see me go in the trailer.
HNMAG: Sure, if you hadn’t seen the trailer, you wouldn’t have seen that coming either. That’s pretty amazing as well. There is a trailer that is all you.
Alex Zahara: Yes, that was the second trailer they released. The first one was with Richard and the gag of him getting his nose piercing caught. One thing about the previous movies was that it was situational, and we get to the deaths for those twists, but with Final Destination: Bloodlines, there are great twists too, but there is also a lot of character development. By the time Uncle Howard passes away, you are invested and care about him and the entire family. Uncle Howard is kind of the emotional backbone of the story. His goal was to keep the family together and give the kids a happy childhood, as opposed to the life his sister and he had growing up. Uncle Howard wants his family and his extended family to enjoy life and make great memories together.
HNMAG: You’ve had a very successful career leading up to this movie, but would you say that this was your biggest role?
Alex Zahara: It’s the biggest role I’ve had in a blockbuster feature film, for sure. I have had bigger parts (in terms of screen time) on TV. My first professional gig was in 1997, and I played a Viking in The 13th Warrior. It was the biggest budget film ever shot in Canada up to that point… however, I ended up in the trailer, more than in the movie, lol. FDB is a great bookend of experience! It was the number one movie in the world during its first week, and I didn’t end up on the cutting room floor! lol
HNMAG: Zac Lipovsky is from Vancouver and is one of the directors. There was a great local cast and crew. Doesn’t that indicate that we can make great local movies and just set them here as well?
Alex Zahara: It might be possible, however, Canada just doesn’t have the population to fully support our industry making solely Canadian stories and productions. The US has at least ten times our population. This is an industry, and if we just serviced Canada, the market would be too small to have a fully functioning TV and film industry.
HNMAG: That would be true if we were aiming just for the Canadian market. Like you said, Final Destination: Bloodlines was the number one film in the world. Does that show that there is universal appeal for what we do?
Alex Zahara: Don’t get me wrong, we could do that. There is only one time that anyone mentions anything to indicate it takes place in America (funny enough, my character mentions “the state” having to take us kids away from our mother). It also doesn’t say we’re Canadian, and that’s what I love about it. I’m not sure we would have an audience, especially in more of the Southern US states, to justify the distribution of something that is Canadian. Americans tend to notice even the slightest Canadian accent, and it can draw the audience out of the story if it is supposed to be set in America. On the other hand, When Calls the Heart is set in Canada, and it’s a huge hit. It’s a matter of finding the right audience.
HNMAG: You were born in Grande Prairie, Alberta. How old were you when you moved? Did you move to Vancouver to go to UBC?
Alex Zahara: Kind of. I grew up in the small town of Grande Prairie. When I was seventeen, I was ready to pack it up and go to LA. I won a scholarship for directing the stage version of MASH. It wasn’t as risqué as the Altman movie.
HNMAG: You omitted the scene where we discover the origins of the nickname, Hot Lips?
Alex Zahara: Right, none of Hot Lips naked in the shower, lol. I took a gap year, traveled around Europe, and then the Persian Gulf War broke out. A ferry that I was on in Greece got buzzed by two F-14 Tomcats. The plane came so close, I saw the pilot’s gold face shield on his helmet. That told me it was time to go home. I decided I wanted to go to film school. When I got back to Grande Prairie, my girlfriend and I moved to Vancouver, and within a year, I was at UBC. During my first year at UBC, I applied and I got accepted into the Film Program, the Acting program, and the Technical Theatre program. The acting program was the most personally challenging, so I went with it, figuring I would become a better director if I knew the actor’s language.
HNMAG: How many people were accepted into the acting program?
Alex Zahara: We started with twelve people. You get evaluated every semester, and if you are not up to snuff, you are asked to leave, so we lost quite a few. Only 6 graduated, including two who were given special permission to continue. In reality, only four of us finished the actual program.
HNMAG: When you were at UBC, did you act in UBC student films?
Alex Zahara: Yes, I did a few at UBC and a few at Vancouver Film School.
HNMAG: How long did it take before you became full union?
Alex Zahara: I didn’t start booking much until eighteen months after I graduated. I was doing an award-winning play called Mojo. One of the other actors had an agent, Ken Walker. I was looking for a new agent, so we met and decided to work together. I did an audition for the Show Viper, before we went in, Trish Robinson, the Casting director, said, I saw MOJO, love it, and loved you. Let’s go get you a job! Steve Rudy, a mutual friend of ours, was on camera. I did my audition, thought it went great, and left, then I found out I booked it! On the day, the director told me how I got the job. He wanted to hire me, but I had no TV experience. Trish Robinson, the casting director, said I’d deliver! He also noticed that Steve knew me. He asked, and Steve told him, “Don’t worry, he’s a great guy, he’ll give you the shirt off his back.” That is how I got the job! That was a large principal, and the next two bookings were guest stars, and luckily, I booked mostly guest stars for about ten to fifteen years.
HNMAG: You became the action sci-fi guy.
Alex Zahara: Seriously, I have been killed forty times on screen.
HNMAG: Then, Final Destination was old hat for you.
Alex Zahara: It was a good time doing it. I worked on Snow Piercer, and I told Sean Bean that I got him beat. He said, “What do you mean?” I said you died twenty-three times on film. I died over thirty-five times.” We had a good laugh about it. How many credits did you need back in those days to join the union?
HNMAG: Six.
Alex Zahara: It was probably about year after I started booking.
HNMAG: You didn’t do a lot of commercials?
Alex Zahara: I didn’t. They thought I was too eclectic looking. I didn’t look like an “everyman”; I was too villain-like! LOL.
HNMAG: You don’t want villains in commercials, that’s true. Has there been a role that you felt like you should book, but instead, production brought up someone from LA?
Alex Zahara: So many! The way I look at it is you do your best, so they can see you can do another role, and they will bring you in again. I auditioned for the Magic Mirror on Once Upon a Time. I also auditioned for Dr. Whale on that series. It’s been the bane of my existence. I have been fortunate that often they will throw me a bone with a different part.
HNMAG: What was a major takeaway from Final Destination?
Alex Zahara: It was one of the most pleasurable experiences I’ve ever had on set in my life. They were so nice, so good, the producers, the directors, the cast, everyone was just awesome. I had such a wonderful time, it was nuts. There were no egos. The crew was incredibly nice and so kind. Everyone was great from the top of the studio right on down to the PAs. We have a great Canadian cast and crew!
HNMAG: In a way, it is Canadian. Sure, the producers are American.
Alex Zahara: Well, yeah, that’s true. A while ago, I was in a film called Drinkwater with Eric McCormack. That was also a homegrown, amazing experience as well. That’s the thing, it’s so amazing when there is no ego.
HNMAG: Eric McCormack was the lead on Will and Grace. That was a huge hit series that was on for years. If anything could justify having a big ego, that would be it, but I guess it didn’t go to his head?
Alex Zahara: No, it didn’t. He is super nice. My wife and I wanted to have our first getaway since COVID. We asked if we could rent the room, and production said you can use it, because we have to maintain it anyway during the production. Graham and Sue Fraser were amazing producers!
HNMAG: Where was that?
Alex Zahara: In Penticton. It’s also a really great movie. An homage back to the John Hughes films of the 80s.
HNMAG: What’s a fun thing about the movie that most people wouldn’t know?
Alex Zahara: Master Effects did the special FX for the movie, and the head they made for Howard is so realistic, it’s not even funny. The real movie magic was the day we shot the Bar-B-Q scene; it was foggy and raining. They lit it in such a way that it looked sunny and warm.
Alex Zahara, as you read, had died forty times on screen, but that’s in over one hundred and fifty movies and TV shows. He has also worked as a director, producer, and casting director. Alex has had a long and successful career in Vancouver, and Final Destination: Bloodlines is his most fun and celebrated work to date. We are all hoping to see more of his work, regardless of the fate of his character.
