Editorials
Everybody’s a Suspect: Meet the New Generation Cast and Characters of ‘Scream’!
Ghostface, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox), and Dewey Riley (David Arquette) are all back in the new Scream, arriving in theaters on January 14, 2022. So, too, is original screenwriter Kevin Williamson, this time as executive producer. But the trailer makes it clear that fans can expect a new generation to get brought into the bloody fold, including directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett.
Last year, Bloody Disgusting spoke to the new cast while production was still underway. True to franchise form, secrecy was of topmost priority- even the idea of sharing a single detail about their characters induced instant panic. Between the incomplete scripts and the scripts with multiple endings, the cast was kept in the dark as to Ghostface’s identity, adding a new meta layer to the shoot. All of this to say that if you’re worried about spoilers, you’ll find none here; the cast had none to give.
One thing is clear, though: everybody’s a suspect.
Let’s meet the new Scream generation and listen to their experiences on set.
Mason Gooding (Chad)
Mason Gooding (“Chad”) stars in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s Scream.
“Well, I can tell you that my character’s name is Chad. He’s a high school football player. He’s American, and he’s probably blood type O negative because I am,” Gooding shares.
On working with Radio Silence and not knowing the ending: “They’re incredibly secretive and dedicated to making sure that it’s a new and unseen experience for the fans because the worst feeling is walking into a movie, knowing how it’s going to play out. Rather than allowing that to happen, they make our lives as actors super interesting by not necessarily divulging certain levels of information. We operate under the ethos that everyone is a suspect rather than everyone’s innocent. It’s a very interesting and engaging sort of a format to tell a story.”
Kyle Gallner (Vince)
Kyle Gallner (“Vince”) stars in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s Scream.
“Yeah, I’m not going to be able to give you much more than that either, man. I play Vince. I’m a guy around town in Woodsboro.”
Gallner adds to Gooding’s thoughts on the production’s secrecy, “The main reason why that can work is it’s being shot pretty sequentially. That’s how it’s able to live in that world. They’re shooting it, pretty much in order, a lot of it.”
Sonia Ammar (Liv)
Sonia Ammar (“Liv”) stars in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s Scream.
“I’m Sonia Ammar, and I play Liv. I’m part of the new group of new characters to join the franchise and the legacy characters. And that’s all I can say.”
Ammar also has effusive praise for the directors. “They have such a great energy and excitement, and they have the uttermost respect and admiration for Wes Craven and the legacy that he has left behind with these films, and they just really want to pay homage to it, but bring a fresh take to it.”
Jenna Ortega (Tara)
Jenna Ortega (“Tara”) stars in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s Scream.
Ortega was too afraid to reveal anything: “I don’t know how much I could say. I’m scared even to say my name. Compared to my last characters, I feel like I tend to play hard people who come off as bitchy sometimes. I don’t know. I think my character is cool, and I relate to her a lot in my personal life.
“I love horror. I love this franchise. Obviously, its self-awareness is impeccable. And just the fact that we’re given the opportunity to build on top and become a part of this immaculate world that Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson and they’ve all created is such an honor. And I think I’ve said it before, but this film, I truly believe, is just such a great fit, and I cannot wait to show everybody what we’ve been creating because it’s pretty awesome.”
Melissa Barrera (Sam)
Melissa Barrera (“Sam”) stars in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s Scream.
“We’re not allowed to tell you a lot because we’ll get in trouble, but I can tell you that I play Sam, and we’re definitely a new generation of characters.”
“It is my first time in a horror film. Do you know what’s so funny? I never thought that I would ever do a horror film in my life. I’m a scaredy-cat. I love watching horror movies, but I then can’t sleep for two weeks. All my assumptions of what it was to do a horror movie were completely wrong because this is probably one of the most fun, most chill sets that I’ve ever been on. And it’s just been an incredible experience. I’m so honored that I get to be in Scream.”
Jack Quaid (Richie)
Jack Quaid (“Richie”) and Melissa Barrera (“Sam”) star in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s Scream.
“Oh, man. Sorry, we’re all very paranoid just because the thrill of Scream is knowing absolutely nothing. So, I’ll start by saying, my name is Richie, and Richie looks like me,” Quaid quips on the secrecy.
Quaid reflected on his continued streak of choosing very bloody projects: “I did a movie called Tragedy Girls, which was a horror-comedy, and I’m no stranger to copious amounts of blood in my projects. So, it feels like I’m coming back home in a lot of ways.”
Dylan Minnette (Wes Hicks)
Dylan Minnette (“Wes”) stars in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s Scream.
Like his fellow castmates, Minnette was afraid even to utter his character’s name. Luckily, returning player Marley Shelton revealed that he plays her teen son Wes, likely a sweet nod to Wes Craven.
“It’s so surreal to share a screen with these people and to be talking about Ghostface on camera,” Minnette reveals.
Jasmin Savoy Brown (Mindy)
Jasmin Savoy Brown (“Mindy”) stars in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s Scream.
“Speaking for myself, being a queer woman of color and getting to be my full self on screen in my character is cool, especially in this world, with such great writing and directing. None of our characters feel like tropes; they feel like fully realized people,” Brown offers of her character.
As for the set’s confidentiality? “There’s a lot of different versions of the ending, and no one knows what’s real,” she says.
Mikey Madison (Amber)
Mikey Madison (“Amber”) stars in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s Scream.
“This is my first horror film, which is crazy because horror is one of my favorite genres. What an incredible first horror movie to do. Production has been really careful in making sure there are no leaks. I think the secrecy adds suspense as well,” Madison cryptically adds.
Based on the trailer and first look images, though, Amber appears to be friends with Tara and perhaps a bit suspicious, too.
“Elevated Horror.” Of all the combinations in the English language, that one is the most insufferable.
It represents almost a decade of scary movies that, for the most part, took themselves too seriously. Horror responds to the moment, so its “why so serious” lean makes sense as we scuttle through the “worst of times” equation of Charles Dickens’ famous opening lines. But there’s still an opening and a need for a lighter approach; one that not only has fun with its audience but takes the piss out of a genre that is seemingly letting its newfound “respectability” go to its head.
Wes Craven believed devotees see horror films to let out their fears one primal scream at a time. At their core, these movies are roller coasters; they bring us as close to the edge as possible before pulling us back into a safety net of reality. The need for a bigger and badder coaster increases during times when the size of that net decreases.
There’s a thrill that comes from imagining being in a foot race with a madman, or outthinking the hordes of zombies on the other side of the door, plus the scavenger humans coming behind them. There’s even a rush that comes from imagining how one might deal with possession to see good triumph over evil in the end. It’s all about building tension and releasing it through catharsis. That cathartic release usually sounds like screams followed by laughter, which signals relief. Genre heavy hitters over the past 10 years offered very little of that respite when the credits rolled. Films like Hereditary, The Witch, Talk to Me, and even Smile (pick one) keep that tension going after the screen fades to black.
Hereditary
As the genre became obsessed with creating trauma metaphors, that lack of release made sense. Anyone with even a small sample size of traumatic experiences knows those emotions don’t magically resolve themselves in an allotted run time. But how much trauma can one take? Especially when there’s a mess going on outside that few of us can escape from. Movies offer that off-ramp, no matter how short.
Everything can’t be, nor should it be, “elevated.” Audiences need thoughtful explorations of life’s ills via monsters as much as they need murdering masked maniacs with kitchen knives. And no, it doesn’t have to go any deeper than that. Sometimes, a knife is just a knife, and it’s still worth our time and respect. As weird as it sounds, that simplicity is comforting not in spite of the trauma but because of it.
The worst of times should manifest more than just anguish. People need to laugh just as much as they need to think seriously about this moment in time. Even the Scream franchise forgot the meta rock upon which it built its church when the latest foray sacrificed the subtle comedy for serious drama. Scary Movie returned at the perfect moment. It provides the necessary laughs, but it’s not a cure-all.
This isn’t a call for Scary Movie imitators but a return to a mainstream landscape where Killer Klowns from Outer Space sat with The Serpent and the Rainbow, nestled neatly with the latest Nightmare on Elm Street, which took nothing away from The Vanishing.
They Live
Even They Live, John Carpenter’s horror sci-fi satire sandwich, kept its tongue firmly in cheek while discussing serious ideas still relevant in 2026. Yes, a film about aliens taking over the world through subliminal messaging only visible through coded sunglasses is, in fact, a tad silly. Carpenter understood that mainstream horror can’t become so self-important that it never looks itself in the mirror and laughs at that inherent silliness.
The thing is, horror historically excels at poking fun at itself. Most of the Scream franchise, The Cabin in the Woods, or The Blackening show adoration without kowtowing. They recognize tropes and trappings but invert them for an audience already in on the joke, but one that also finds solace in said conventions. This keeps the genre on its toes; once something gets parodied, it’s usually time to evolve. That breeds new ideas and fresh filmmakers, which not only strengthen the genre’s collective voice but also amplify it.
Get Out, as “elevated” as some critics want us to believe it is, is a cathartic, populist scary movie that spoke to an untapped audience rather than speaking down to them. Backrooms is one of the biggest horror hits in years, partially because it’s fine-tuned for modern-day teenagers instead of their parents. Movies like these tell everyone the genre is open for business; open for innovation and, yeah, open for new ways in which people can lovingly poke fun at with a wink and a nudge.
Horror needs dread as much as it needs laughter.
Catharsis is just as important as tension, and pulpy populism has the same merit as more high-brow material. Respectability shouldn’t come at the expense of an experience akin to walking through a haunted house. At a time when joy seems in short supply, horror should look to its past to map out its future, and make things just a tad brighter for audiences.
Backrooms
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