Samuel "Sam" Lawton is the main protagonist of the 2011 horror film Final Destination 5. He was an employee at Presage Paper as well as a part-time chef at Cáfe Miro 81. He was also a survivor of the 1999 North Bay Bridge collapse, having seen a vision of the disaster shortly before its occurrence.
History[]
On April 26th 1999, Sam and his colleagues at Presage boarded a bus to go to a corporate retreat. As the bus approached the North Bay Bridge, Sam experienced a premonition in which he witnessed the collapse of the bridge and the deaths of all his co-workers. Upon snapping back to reality, he panicked and urged everyone to get off the bus before getting off himself. Molly Harper, Peter Friedkin, Olivia Castle, Nathan Sears, Candice Hooper, Isaac Palmer and their boss Dennis Lapman all followed after Sam to make sure that he was alright. A moment later, the bridge collapsed just as Sam had foreseen, killing 86 people including the 17 Presage employees still on the bus.
Following the bridge collapse, the survivors were questioned by the authorities. FBI agent Jim Block was suspicious of Sam given his claims about the disaster shortly before it occurred, believing that he may have somehow caused it. With no evidence to support his suspicion, Block had no choice but to let Sam go.
A funeral service was later held for the Presage employees who died in the bridge collapse. At the memorial, Sam and Peter encountered the coroner William Bludworth, who enigmatically told them that Death did not like to be cheated. Sam and Peter ignored him and went on their way.
Later on, Candice died from a freak accident in a gymnasium. Sam visited Peter at the gymnasium where he spotted the same man from the memorial service watching them from a distance. The following day at work, a depressed Peter invited Sam, Molly, Olivia, and Nathan to drink with him.
After Olivia left to go to the eye clinic, the others received news that Isaac had died during a massage treatment. They met Bludworth once more, who told him that if they wanted to live, they must kill someone who was never meant to die on the bridge, and take their remaining lifespan. Sam and Molly decided to warn Olivia, suspecting she might be in danger. They arrived at the clinic but were too late to save Olivia when she fell out of the window. Afterwards, Nathan accidentally killed his co-worker, Roy, in a warehouse accident. When Dennis arrived to question what happened, he was suddenly killed by a wrench launched by a belt sander.
Later on, Sam was working at Le Cáfe Miro 81 and finally accepted his chef apprenticeship. After work, he asked his manager if he could reserve the restaurant for a date with Molly. Peter later showed up and talked about how he almost killed a woman by shoving her into traffic, but couldn't bring himself to do it. He then pointed a gun at Molly and she and Sam fled to the restaurant's kitchen. Peter followed them and knocked out Sam before continuing to pursue Molly. Although Agent Block soon arrived to help, he was shot and killed by Peter. As Peter closed in on Molly, he was stabbed in the back with a meat skewer by Sam. Since Peter had stolen Block's life, and Sam had killed Peter, this led Sam to believe he was given Block's intended lifespan.
Death[]
On May 13th 1999, Sam and Molly boarded the ill-fated Volée Airlines Flight 180 to Paris, looking forward to starting their relationship over and Sam's future career as a chef. Shortly after boarding the plane, they witness one passenger - Alex Browning - becoming hysterical and ranting about how the plane will explode and everyone will die. As they watched Alex and his party be removed from the plane, Sam and Molly exchanged concerned looks.
Shortly after the plane took off, one of its engines exploded and part of the passenger cabin tore away. Molly would die after being sucked out of the plane, despite Sam's efforts to hold onto her. A moment later, the cabin would be flooded in fire, burning Sam and the other passengers alive as the plane exploded.