Scream 6 has been released in theaters and adds a whole new facet to the history of the long-running horror franchise. While fans are excited to see the new slew of characters to make up the victims and suspects list, there are a number of returning ones as well.
From fan favorites to some baffling characters to ones that are just a little too meta, the Scream franchise has a great history of characters behind and in front of it. While not every favorite character from the franchise is still alive today, their life or death will remain an integral part of a much-beloved series of movies as it hits a new stride with a sixth entry.
9 Cotton Weary
While he isn’t one of the most lovable characters really, Cotton Weary had an intriguing arc through the original trilogy of Scream movies. After managing to get out of prison at the end of the first Scream, Cotton came looking for Sidney and had a much larger role in Scream 2. Unfortunately, much of that role was harassing her into TV interviews and getting suspicion for the second set of killings placed right back on his own shoulders.
While he came good in the end and helped save Sidney, he didn’t last long and his newfound fame was quite literally cut short as he was taken out at the beginning of Scream 3. Still though, kudos for lasting as long as he did, considering the hugely significant role he played in Sidney’s own personal history when most other people close to her had been long dead by then.
8 Tatum
Tatum is one of the saddest losses of the original Scream. She is one of the few characters in a Scream movie that gets to have a full victim scene against the killer to herself while still surviving until almost the end. She also steadfastly refused to be scared of the killer for as long as she could, and her scene remains one of the more memorable kill scenes in the entire franchise.
The original victim of the beer run / "I’ll be right back" trope the series and its fans have come to love, Tatum was Sidney’s original best friend and thus doomed to not last long. However, she stuck by Sidney through the killings, had some great one-liners, and became a classic 90s trope almost entirely by herself.
7 Sam Carpenter
A different kind of lead for a fan base used to Sidney Prescott, Sam is dangerous and knows it. Her visions of her father, Billy Loomis, make for some intriguing darkness and are a fun addition to the franchise. As a leading character, she focuses more on protecting her sister Tara than herself, which is a fun departure from Sidney’s survivalist instinct.
While Sam may or may not be on a path to eventual darkness as a killer herself, for now, she remains a great modern version of what Sidney did for the horror genre with her role in the original Scream trilogy. In terms of being a box office slasher hero, Sam is doing an excellent job so far as well, with Scream 6 already breaking records.
6 Kirby Reed
Not only has she managed to return to a completely different sort of role for Scream 6, but Kirby Reed was one of the very best parts of Scream 4. From her seeming role at the beginning as “just another friend” to her surprising relationship with Charlie, Kirby was fantastic. She managed to be a fun, horror-knowledgeable character, Jill’s best friend, and have one of the most interesting romantic entanglements in the franchise, all before a brutal betrayal by Charlie led to her seeming death.
Kirby played a role with many hats and was far too interesting to be killed off. While it seemed Scream 4 was trying at one point to reboot the franchise in favor of Jill, Kirby would have been a great and intriguing option for a new lead. Many fans will be delighted to see Hayden Panettiere returning to an older version of the role in Scream 6.
5 Randy Meeks
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The original meta character who described a list of rules that would help his friends survive if “this were a horror movie”, Randy wasn’t always correct and was sometimes the victim of his own tropes, but he was one of the best creations the franchise ever had. From his video store showdown with both later-to-be-revealed killers in the original film to his posthumous videotape appearance in Scream 3, Randy was an iconic character of the original trilogy.
Not quite on the level of Dewey or Gail as far as Sidney’s friends go, but only because he didn’t survive as long, Randy was one of the original big four survivors from Scream that made it to Scream 2. He made it no further than that, proving by the end of the film to be Scream 2’s most heartbreaking loss.
4 Tara Carpenter
Proving in her time as an actress to be a standout wherever she goes, Jenna Ortega has already had four or five defining roles by the age of 20. Tara was meant to be an instant loss, as far as fans were concerned. She was set up in the requel Scream to be taken out in the opening scene, and the brutality of the scene made it astounding for fans to discover she made it out.
Proving very much her own character with a lot of humor and edge all at once over her two films in the franchise so far, Tara is an excellent character who shows herself to be a constant fighter, even against the odds while fleeing from the killer in a wheelchair. The darkness present in the new leads extends from Sam to Tara, and she shows this off throughout Scream 6.
3 Mindy Meeks-Martin
Her brother Chad may be a great character as well, but Mindy takes the cake as perhaps the best of the new creations in the requel movies. A replacement for Randy, Mindy is constantly frustrated in Scream 6 with her inability to puzzle out the killers. But her strangely confident character elevates the idea of what nerdy movie lover characters can be, and it’s excellent.
A stand-out among Tara’s group of friends from the 2022 Scream, Mindy immediately became worth saving, and it was a huge relief to many fans when she made it out and was announced for a return in Scream 6.
2 Sidney Prescott
Sidney is the titular character of the franchise. While Neve Campbell seems now to have handed the reins of the Scream movies off to the requel characters in Scream 6, she will always be remembered as the one true face of Scream. Depicted as one of the consistently smartest final girls in horror history, Sidney was an excellent lead right from the start.
Cautious but willing to fight, her first time coming face-to-face with the killer, Sidney was already stepping out of her front door and challenging Ghostface to come after her. It is amazing to see her bravery on display, and the natural arc of caution becoming more apparent as the movies go by is amazing to witness. She truly grew up on camera and seems to be at the point where she is unwilling to put herself through more of this unnecessarily, which makes perfect sense.
1 Dewey Riley
Despite his recent unfortunate demise in the requel, Dewey is a great character. He consistently goes to whatever lengths he must in order to help those in need. Sidney is the best survivor in the Scream franchise, and Gail is the thriftiest character perhaps, but Dewey is the heart that continually went to help whenever or whoever it could.
For years, Dewey had the simple premise that he wanted Gail and wanted to help people. While he may have run and returned to Woodsboro after finally getting Gail, this only proved that his true love was for his hometown and the simple life he gets to lead there.
Scream 6 was released in theaters on March 10th, 2023.