’90s Heartthrob Reveals Wild Theory About His Own Death

Devon Sawa has spent decades associated with one of Hollywood’s most memorable movie disasters, and the ’90s heartthrob now has a surprisingly upbeat theory about why it means he is safe in real life.

The 48-year-old Final Destination star joked during a new appearance on Obsessed: The Podcast that starring in a movie centered around a catastrophic plane accident has actually made him feel more comfortable when he flies.

“The chances of me doing a movie about dying in an airplane and then actually dying in an airplane would be pretty slim,” Sawa said.

He added that such an ending would simply be “too perfect.”

It was a characteristically dark joke from an actor whose career has become closely tied to horror fans.

Sawa starred as Alex Browning in the original Final Destination, released in 2000.

In the movie, Alex is preparing to travel to Paris with his high school classmates when he experiences a terrifying premonition involving their flight.

He and several other passengers get off the plane before disaster strikes, only to discover that escaping their apparent fate comes with frightening consequences.

The film became a surprise success and eventually launched a long-running horror franchise known for turning ordinary situations into elaborate sources of anxiety.

Sawa told the podcast that even the cast did not initially understand just how strongly audiences would react.

That changed when they watched the movie with a packed crowd.

Sawa recalled sitting in the back of a theater and hearing the audience collectively erupt during some of the film’s biggest moments.

He said that reaction made the cast realize the filmmakers had created something unusual that might have staying power.

More than 25 years later, he was right.

Final Destination developed a devoted following and spawned multiple sequels, while several of its scenes became deeply embedded in pop culture.

Sawa admitted that even he has picked up a few lingering fears from the franchise.

One of the most famous examples comes not from his movie, but from Final Destination 2.

That sequel opens with an infamous highway sequence involving a logging truck and a devastating chain reaction.

For many viewers, the scene permanently changed the experience of driving behind trucks carrying large logs.

Sawa said he understands why.

“That’s the beauty of it,” he said, noting that people still bring up the sequence decades later.

Despite those fictional disasters, Sawa apparently refuses to believe life will imitate art too closely.

He joked that dying in a plane-related incident after starring in Final Destination would create an irresistible tabloid headline.

He has no intention of providing one.

The actor’s latest project also keeps him firmly in supernatural territory, though with a much lighter tone.

Sawa currently stars in Coven Academy, a new fantasy series set around an elite magic school in New Orleans.

The show follows young witches and warlocks as they learn to control their powers while confronting secrets and supernatural threats.

Coven Academy premiered October 1 on Freeform, with its full first season becoming available the following day on Disney+ and Hulu.

The series also stars Tiffani Thiessen, giving viewers another familiar face from 1990s television alongside Sawa.

Sawa first became a teen favorite through movies including Casper, Now and Then and Wild America before reinventing himself through darker projects including Final Destination.

His brief appearance as the human version of Casper in the 1995 movie remains one of his most recognizable roles among fans who grew up during the decade.

Now, decades later, Sawa appears to be enjoying the unusual legacy of the movies that made him famous — including the strange fears they helped create.

And when it comes to airplanes, his strategy is apparently simple.

He has already survived that storyline once on screen.

As far as Sawa is concerned, doing it again in real life would simply be far too obvious.