What has become a summertime tradition, Syfy’s third installment in the ‘Sharknado’ series, ‘Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No,’ just upped the ante with an ending that brings new meaning to the word cliffhanger. While it’s no surprise that the cable network has greenlit a ‘Sharknado 4,’ this time they’re letting fans determine what is to become of its leading lady leaving viewers yelling “Oh hell no!” at their screens and heading to their Twitter accounts.

Just when you though the TV movie was over, a piece of space shuttle wreckage was shown to come hurling toward April Shepard (played by Tara Reid). The screen goes black and before you can catch your breath, the words “You decide if #AprilLives or #AprilDies’ with an accompanying voiceover telling viewers : “Now’s your chance to be part of Sharknado history! You decide if April lives or April dies by tweeting your choice now or by going to Sharknado.syfy.com to vote. Her fate will be revealed in Sharknado 4 … because we’re not done yet!”


Originally, ‘Sharknado 3’ was going to end on a happily ever after family moment, but director Anthony C. Ferrante realized that this was too much of an solid ending and it wouldn’t allow for another sequel:

“That’s great, but it sounds like the ending of a trilogy of a franchise that’s not going to continue. It’s a satisfying ending that doesn’t go on. I wanted to take a page out of some of the classic television stunts that have been done and contemporize them. We needed to do something that was going to keep the audience in jeopardy and want to come back for another Sharknado. That led to the idea that I came up with in having the audience vote. Sharknado, more than anything on television, is a social interaction with the viewers, so we wanted to make it interactive. I’m hoping that we’re going to break the Internet this time with the “April lives, April dies” at the end. I think it’s going to be precedent-setting. I can’t think of an instance where another network has done something of that nature at the end of an event. Hopefully it’s a TV first.”

One of the biggest forces behind the ‘Sharknado’ phenomenon is social media and the filmmakers as well as the marketing department has this area down to an art. For ‘Sharknado 2,’ they had fans submit suggestions for the movie’s subtitle and now the fate of April is in the very same hands.

Immediately after ‘Sharknado 3’ aired, Tara Reid started her own campaign for #AprilLives. “That [vote ending] was a shocker,” she confessed. “I didn’t expect that!”

So after all those sharks falling from the skies, could a piece of space junk really be the way it all ends? April’s fate is all in your fingertips! Should she live or should she die? Share your thoughts below!

Source: THR