Instead of being one or two killers, Scream 6’s Ghostface could be made up of an entire murderous cult. Unlike Michael Myers or Freddy Krueger, the Scream movies are unique in that each entry has a new killer (or more accurately, killers) donning the Ghostface persona. The films haven’t – at least to date – resurrected a past villain, so each Scream has a fun murder/mystery element to them. Some villain reveals have been more obvious than others (or in the case of Scream 3, a little baffling), but guessing who’s secretly Ghostface is part of the saga’s appeal.
Scream 6 is setting up a fresh mystery for fans, with the survivors of Scream 2022 heading to New York and being stalked once more. Hopefully, the slasher can live up to its premise, and make up for the wasted opportunity that was 1989’s Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. While theories abound about who the next killer could be – with both Hayden Panettiere’s Kirby or Melissa Barrera’s Sam being suggested – only the final film will reveal the truth. That said, certain plot points suggest Scream 6’s Ghostface could be made up of a murderous fanclub.
The Scream 3 that hit theaters in 2000 wasn’t the original vision. Creator Kevin Williamson had devised a storyline set in Woodsboro, where a new entry in the film-within-a-film franchise Stab was being filmed. “Ghostface” in this Scream 3 would have been revealed as a group of Stab fans, who were acting under the influence of Matthew Lillard’s Stu, one of the killers from the original film. Following the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, Miramax went cold on this concept and ordered a more comedic, adult-oriented entry instead. Williamson would rework his scrapped idea into serial killer TV show The Following.
Williamson had little creative involvement with Scream 3, and his absence hurt the end product. Over the years, followers of the series have come to appreciate what does work about the third entry, though its overreliance on goofy meta humor – including the Jay and Silent Bob’s cameo – and lackluster killer reveal commonly see it rank as the weakest entry. Williamson’s Scream 3 pitch was only an outline as he didn’t have time to pen a screenplay, but it sounded like the stronger premise and one that would have tied in better with the first two Scream films. It’s also one ripe for revisiting, especially in the modern era.
Scream 6 could be dusting off this concept too. New York allows for a bigger canvas for the franchise, and it feels more plausible an obsessive cult could build around the Woodsboro killings in a big city than the town itself. Assuming the souvenir room glimpsed in Scream 6’s easter egg-packed trailer – which features “memorabilia” from the first five movies including victim’s clothing or the cloaks of past Ghostfaces – it feels unlikely only one or two killers could collect all these items alone. An entire fanbase, on the other hand, lands it a little more plausibility.
The subway setpiece from Scream 6’s trailer – which finds Sam, her sister Tara (Jenna Ortega) and company trapped on a train with commuters dressed as classic horror villains – also hints there are multiple Ghostfaces. Of course, most of these could just be regular folks, but being a Scream movie, the odds are good a few really are killers. In addition to giving the saga more scale, Scream 6 moving to New York could expand on a plot point that seems to recur throughout the series. Scream 2’s killers Mickey (Timothy Olyphant) and Mrs. Loomis (Laurie Metcalf) met online, as did Scream 2022’s duo Richie (Jack Quaid) and Amber (Mikey Madison).
Instead of a couple of killers joining together, Scream 6 could reveal a murderous cult has built up around the Ghostface killings online. Maybe the very same Stab Reddit that Richie and Amber belonged to, continuing that entry’s focus on “toxic” fandom. That would certainly pay off Ghostface’s trailer line to Courtney Cox’s Gale, where he/she claims they’re “something different.” Six movies in, it’s hard to surprise a fanbase actively hunting for clues, but a murderous cult would certainly make it a little harder to guess who the killer is. It would also pay off Williamson’s original Scream 3 vision.
Ever since it was revealed that Stu was part of the original Scream 3 pitch, there have been calls for Lillard to return. While Lillard made a vocal cameo in Scream 2022, the actor has yet to return to the franchise. It’s also notable that while Stu is assumed to be dead, his fate has never been confirmed as such within the movies. If Scream 6 is revisiting the Ghostface fan club premise, it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine Stu was also acting as their leader from a cell. However, there are a couple of issues with this.
One is that Lillard himself told Us Weekly he wasn’t part of Scream 6. That said, he also claimed in tongue-in-cheek fashion that “Unless of course I’m totally in it and I’m lying to your face.” Williamson himself also clarified to Collider that Stu was totally dead and that suggestions otherwise were just a rumor. That said, it’s a rumor that refuses to go away, and even if Stu doesn’t appear in Scream 6 – which faced a Ghostface shotgun backlash – there’s always the possibility he could reappear down the road. Unless the films themselves underline that Stu is 100% dead, it’s a theory that fans are unlikely to let go of.
Scream 6’s fan club theory has merit, but time will tell where the film takes the series. The trailer is strongly hinting Gale won’t make it this time – which risks the backlash that greeted another legacy character demise in Scream 2022 – and the absence of Neve Campbell’s Sidney is also disappointing. One thing the franchise will have to do to evolve is focus on its current protagonists, and make fans like them just as much – or nearly as much – as the legacy characters. Scream will always respect its past and the foundation that Williams and Wes Craven built, but it can’t rely on that forever.
