When Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere) is introduced in Scream 4, fans love her right away. Kirby is totally her own person and while she's interested in Sidney Prescott's (Neve Campbell) story, Kirby just wants to live her own life and be happy and ignore any gossip in the town of Woodsboro.
By the end of Scream 4, Kirby's fate isn't clear, and fans want more than anything to know that Kirby is alive and safe and sound. While Kirby isn't a character in Scream (2022), she will go down in Scream history as one of the coolest characters, and there are many reasons why audiences are so taken with her.
Kirby Reed is a great character from the very first time that audiences see her on screen. Kirby is driving fast and when she passes Dewey Riley (David Arquette), she apologizes to him, knowing that she isn't going to slow down for anyone. Kirby loves her best friends Jill Roberts (Emma Roberts) and Olivia Morris (Marielle Jaffe) and fans learn right away that Charlie Walker (Rory Culkin) has been in love with her for years. Kirby likes horror movies and is a funny and intelligent character.
It's interesting that while Kirby only appears in one Scream movie, fans love her so much that there has been a lot of discussion about whether she would ever return to the franchise. In a shocking moment, Charlie stabs Kirby, which is intense since audiences were tricked into thinking that he really cared about her. No one is sure if this means that Kirby is dead or alive, and when compared to the deaths in the Scream franchise, this is a sad one. There's often a tricky balance between surprising audiences and not killing off favorite characters because that can really disappoint fans, like Dewey's mistake of a Scream (2022) death.
In Scream (2022), fans learn that Kirby is alive, which is great news since everyone had been wondering if she would come back for this new film. When Richie Kirsch (Jack Quaid) watches Bloody Disgusting's YouTube videos, there is a sidebar that says "Interview with Woodsboro Survivor Kirby Reed." While Sidney Prescott is a final girl who everyone loves, Kirby could play this role, too, if only she had been the main character in Scream (2022). Even though fans love the high school characters in the new film, there's something about Kirby that suggests that fans would follow her in any movie. She's a "cool girl" character who could carry an entire movie and seems just as well-written as the main character Jill.
When compared to the other teenage characters in the Scream franchise, or even characters in different slasher horror franchises, Kirby seems tougher, smarter, and stronger. She's the kind of person who doesn't suffer fools or care about what people say about her. Kirby just has this way about her that suggests that she can do anything and go anywhere and she will always be happy and successful.
Kirby is up there with great horror movie characters and it's fascinating watching her deal with Ghostface. While Kirby is unaware that her best friend and the person who claims to have a crush on her are the ones who are killing everyone as Scream 4's Ghostface killers, she never loses her strength, power, or sense of self for a single second during this scary situation. Kirby seems like the kind of teenager who doesn't enjoy regular high school life and who is just trying to get through this frustrating time so she can leave Woodsboro and go to college and start her actual, fun, exciting life. Kirby also isn't scared of Ghostface, which is important since that sets her apart from other characters and makes her more interesting to watch.
Fans definitely love Kirby Reed so much thanks to is the incredible acting that Hayden Panettiere does. Famous for playing strong TV characters like pop singer Juliette Barnes in Nashville and cheerleader Claire Bennett in Heroes, Panettiere is also portraying a tough person this time around. Panettiere has such command of every scene that she's in and she's the perfect actor for this role, making Kirby the fan favorite character that she is.
While there are many teenage characters in the Scream franchise, Kirby is nicely written and on par with Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and Sidney Prescott, as she's just as self-aware, strong, and interesting as they are. A fun new Scream movie would definitely see these three characters hanging out together and taking on Ghostface, but since that probably won't happen, fans can just be glad to know that Kirby is still alive (and they can watch her anytime in Scream 4).