Warning: This article contains full spoilers for Scream VI.
All is right in the horror world as there’s another Scream movie in cinemas, although as exciting as the arrival of Scream VI is, lovers of the meta-slasher series are used to entering each new film full of anxiety that this will be the one where their favorite characters are finally killed by Ghostface. As everyone knows at this point, for instance, David Arquette’s Dewey failed to escape 2022’s Scream alive.
With Scream VI also losing Neve Campbell due to an unfortunate contractual dispute, that means Courteney Cox is the last of the original trio still left standing as famed reporter Gale Weathers. That said, Hayden Panettiere returns to the franchise for this one as Scream 4 fan-favorite Kirby Reed. And, who knows, there may be some other returning faces you don’t expect to see in the mix, too.
With that in mind, let’s answer the question on every Scream super-fan’s mind now that Scream VI is out in theaters: do any legacy characters die in this movie?
Does Ghostface kill any legacy characters in Scream VI?
OK, here goes… The answer to this question is, surprisingly, no. That’s right, in contrast to Scream ’22, in which they brutally killed Dewey, Radio Silence filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett apparently felt much more merciful this time around as no returning characters die in Scream VI. In fact, and this is sure to be a point of contention for the more bloodthirsty fans out there, the movie as a whole is unexpectedly keen to keep as many major players alive as possible.
Having said that, it’s not like Scream VI gives Gale and Kirby an easy ride as the film is keen to convince us that both of them die at different points, with the former last being seen in critical condition. In a clever inversion of the van attack from Scream 2, while the rest of the characters are expecting Ghostface to come to them while holed up in a surveillance van, the killer actually attacks Gale in her East Side apartment, where she is stabbed an ungodly amount of times. Proving just how tough she is, though, Gale manages to just about hang on until the paramedics cart her off to hospital.
Meanwhile, during the big third act set in Ghostface’s museum of past killings, Kirby Reed — now an FBI agent, remember — is shot multiple times by the latest Ghostface mastermind (who themselves has a connection to the franchise’s past), and that appears to be that. Thankfully, though, she later returns alive and well to rescue Sam and Tara, thanks to the aid of a bulletproof vest. Still, she then suffers a repeat of the wound she almost died from in Scream 4, but like Gale manages to survive until the authorities arrive.
Seeing as we were anticipating at least one of the legacy characters to die in Scream VI after Dewey’s demise in the last movie, keeping Gale and Kirby alive (and, yes, don’t worry, Sidney is confirmed to be A-OK, just off-screen) was the perfect subversion of our expectations, which is an extremely Scream thing to do.