'Scream 6' to star Ghostface survivor Hayden Panettiere, as well as the lucky ones from 'Scream 5'

Horror fans shrieked with delight when Spyglass Media Group and Paramount greenlit the sixth installment of Scream a few months ago. And while we’ve known that directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett along with writers James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick will be coming back after directing and penning (respectively) the fifth Scream movie, we’ve only had our speculation and hopes as to what the new film will cover.

This week, however, we got some news on who we’ll be seeing facing off against Ghostface in Scream 6. According to Variety, the survivors of the fifth Scream movie played by Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, and Jenna Ortega will be back once again in the upcoming film. Spyglass and Paramount also announced today that Hayden Panettiere, who played Kirby Reed in Scream 4, will also be coming back in the sixth movie.

In case you need a refresher, Ortega and Barrera play Tara and Sam Carpenter, with Barrera’s Sam finding out she’s the biological daughter of Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), the original Ghostface killer. Gooding and Brown play twins Chad and Mindy Meeks-Martin, who are the nephews of OG Scream character Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy). Panettiere's Kirby was the sole teenage survivor in Scream 4 and also had a cameo in the fifth Scream movie. 

Check out Panettiere as Kirby in Scream 4 below:

The five returning characters may also be joined in Scream 6 by Courteney Cox's Gale Weathers, as the OG Scream actor hinted a few weeks ago that she'll be returning as well. 

Details on the plot of Scream 6 are still shady, but Bettinelli-Olpin recently shared what they hope to accomplish in the next installment in the franchise. “I think one of the things in this next one that we'll hopefully be able to do is just make sure that it doesn't feel like something you've seen,” he said. “I think it just has to feel fresh and it has to feel new... Cause yeah, you want Ghostface, you want the killings, you want a whodunit. It's all the stuff, it's gotta be in there. Just in a new way."

In the same interview, Gillett added that their inspiration for Scream 6 stems from the question: “What's a Scream movie when the wheels have fallen off?” According to Spyglass, it looks like the wheels falling off involves the four survivors leaving Woodsboro to start a Ghostface-free life. It’s a fair bet, however, that their attempts to run away from Ghostface will be for naught. And we’ll be ready to see him and these four characters again when Scream 6 premieres in theaters on March 31, 2023. 

In the meantime, you can check out other horror treats like Chucky, Firestarter and Halloween II now streaming on Peacock.