The character, created by James Wong and Glen Morgan, and portrayed by actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead, serves as the protagonist in Final Destination 3.

[2] In the film, Wendy is depicted a high school graduate from the fictional town of McKinley in Pennsylvania, and is one of the survivors of the Devil's Flight roller coaster derailment.

Additionally, in 2011, franchise producer Craig Perry stated that he "believes" both Wendy and her sister Julie are, in fact, dead.

When she begins noticing the photographs she took on the night of the roller coaster ride carry ominous clues as to how the other survivors eventually meet their end and also learns details of the Flight 180 disaster from Kevin beforehand, she then pairs up with him to save the other survivors; she ends up only managing to rescue Ian McKinley, her sister Julie, and Kevin from their second intended deaths.

Her attempts to stop the subway are for naught, as the film cuts to black, with sounds of the train derailment being heard just as she runs towards the exit door, leaving her fate ambiguous.

In the first alternate ending on the DVD, after Ian gets completely crushed, she along with Kevin and Julie leave the tricentennial, but not before the camera which Wendy threw to the ground takes one last picture of them, presumably hinting their next way of death.

In the final alternate ending, Wendy receives her vision before she boards the roller coaster, and manages to save herself along with Kevin, Jason, and Carrie.

In the fourth installment of the Final Destination franchise, Wendy's possible death (getting run over by a train) is referenced in the opening credits of the film.

The Devil's Flight roller coaster (Wendy's premonition) was also seen as Olivia Castle was leaving for her lasik eye surgery, she accidentally bumped a picture of her and one friend taken in McKinley Park as she and her friend once rode Devil's Flight, with the picture containing the tagline "The World's Scariest Roller Coaster".

[7] In a DVD feature, James Wong revealed that he originally intended for Wendy to be a "perky blonde" and that Alexis Bledel had auditioned for the role.

Winstead, who got cast in March 2005,[8] had previously auditioned for the second film, won the role because she brought emotion and character that impressed Wong and Morgan.

More so than Cook, Winstead is fully convincing and even touching in her portrayal of a young woman struggling to handle the traumatic events thrown at her."

"[19] Chris Carle of IGN criticized the main characters for not being fleshed out enough, especially Wendy, who he claimed only had two traits: "She is a control freak and she cries a lot.