The Scream franchise may not have invented the final girl, but after thirty years and seven films, it’s certainly responsible for evolving the beloved archetype. Wes Craven’s original 1996 film introduced us to Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), young women who begin as enemies, but survive by learning to trust each other. For decades, we’ve watched this relationship grow as they battle an entity known as Ghostface (Roger L. Jackson).
In 2022, directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett revived the dormant series, reuniting our favorite final girls alongside a new duo of female survivors. Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) and her half-sister Tara (Jenna Ortega) are connected by blood to the Ghostface murders and now find themselves caught in the fray.
But linking these two eras of Scream queens is one of the genre’s most surprising final girls.
First introduced in the severely underrated Scream 4, Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere) merges several slasher tropes, reimagining the female survivor and besting the killer at his signature game. Though her fate remained unclear for twelve long years, Kirby makes a triumphant return in Scream VI, cementing her status as a final girl and one of the most inspirational characters in franchise history.
Kirby’s Introduction in Scream 4
We first meet Kirby on the fifteenth anniversary of the Ghostface murders. A Woodsboro teen, she zooms down a residential street, barely avoiding a speeding ticket from series stalwart Dewey Riley (David Arquette), now serving as Chief of Police. Shaking his head, he begrudgingly waves, signaling trust in the reckless yet relatable teen. Kirby’s best friend Jill (Emma Roberts) just happens to be the younger cousin of Sidney herself, who’s returned to town on a book tour.
En route to school, Kirby shares her love for the famous survivor, claiming the Stab films – an in-world franchise that closely mirrors the events of Scream – are the reason she loves scary movies. This brief yet endearing statement invites in a new wave of self-reflection while endearing Kirby to female fans who also fell in love with horror through Sidney’s story.
Not only a fan of scary movies, we learn that Kirby is a “genre nut” and boasts an impressive DVD collection. While flirting with film geek Charlie Walker (Rory Culkin), she insists she could “trivia [his] ass under the table.” Kirby’s knowledge is put to the test in a harrowing recreation of Scream’s opening scene. As Charlie sits, bound, outside the door, the frightened teen bargains for his life by answering a series of rapid-fire questions. Though she insists that she’s not an expert, Kirby easily blazes through Ghostface’s list, correctly identifying the signature weapons of Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Freddy Krueger.
Her only miss is a trick question in which the killer erroneously calls Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom the film that kicked off the slasher craze. While Ghostface is correct that the 1960 film is the first to align audiences with the killer’s point of view, Peeping Tom is widely considered a proto-slasher, along with Psycho, the answer Kirby gives. Ghostface’s gotcha ignores earlier films like The Leopard Man and The Spiral Staircase while forgetting that the POV gimmick is merely one element of a complex slasher formula that would solidify in the late ’70s and early ’80s.
Beating Ghostface at His Own Game
Perhaps I’m a bit protective of Kirby and miffed by this subjective question that reeks of film bro narcissism. Also frustrated, Kirby begs for another chance and, upon hearing the word remake, rattles off titles from the horror remake boom of the aughts.
“Halloween, uh, Texas Chain Saw, Dawn of the Dead, The Hills Have Eyes, Amityville Horror, uh, Last House on the Left, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare On Elm Street, My Bloody Valentine, When A Stranger Calls, Prom Night, Black Christmas, House of Wax, The Fog, Piranha. It’s one of those, right? Right?” Clearly outmatched, the killer falls silent, and Kirby assumes she’s won the game. She rushes outside to free Charlie and walks directly into a trap. As Kirby unwinds the tape from his feet, Charlie plunges a knife into her stomach. Giving incel vibes, he’s angry that after four long years, she’s only now paying attention to him.
Upon second watch, this attack feels especially cruel. Logic tells us that Kirby must be talking to the second killer. But remembering her flirtatious challenge, it feels like she’s matching wits with Charlie himself. His unprovoked act of violence feels less like a response to romantic rejection and more like punishment for her genre expertise. It’s a heartbreaking moment that lays bare the fallacy of Ghostface’s trivia games. Though dressed up as devotion to the art of horror, each masked killer eventually reveals that they are driven by misplaced anger and jealousy. By beating the villain at his own game, Kirby echoes Sidney’s discovery in Scream 3, proving that each Ghostface kills, “because [they] chose to” while hiding behind a mask of artistic expression.
We eventually learn that Jill is the second killer. Tired of living in Sidney’s shadow, she’s orchestrated a plot to remove her rival and emerge as the new celebrity survivor. Meanwhile, Sidney is confronting her own legacy. Her memoir, entitled Out of Darkness, sees the perpetual final girl reject a life defined by tragedy, rewriting her narrative as one of strength and perseverance. She passes on this knowledge to Kirby in a brief scene that occurs just moments before the fateful trivia game.
Discovering Charlie with blood on his hands, Sidney encourages Kirby to listen to her instincts and lock out anyone she doesn’t trust. Though brief, this scene is a touchstone connecting two generations of final girls.
For most of its run-time, Scream 4 mirrors the structure of Craven’s 1996 original, bringing us back to Woodsboro with a new batch of terrified teens. Jill is poised to become the next final girl while Charlie embodies the late Randy Meeks (Jaime Kennedy), explaining the updated slasher rules while leading a meeting of Cinema Club. But when Jill and Charlie turn out to be killers, a hole appears in the slasher structure. Surprisingly, Kirby steps in to fill both roles. She becomes the story’s young heroine, fighting a masked killer to save her friends. And she serves as a film geek and harbinger, fretting about who will die before who and easily sussing out the story’s false conclusion.
After viciously stabbing Kirby twice, Charlie simply walks away, leaving her to bleed out in her own backyard. But as any seasoned horror fan knows, you can never trust an off-screen death.
How Scream VI Completed Kirby’s Story
Twelve years after this brutal attack, Kirby makes her long-awaited return in Scream VI, which takes the carnage to New York City. Explaining her horrific ordeal, she remembers, “I almost died after I was stabbed. Technically, I did die… for four minutes. When I recovered, I got mad. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life being afraid of monsters. I wanted the monsters to be afraid of me.”
She is now an FBI Agent with a special interest in Ghostface murders and offers her help in the latest attacks.
Reminiscent of Craven’s original trilogy, Scream and Scream VI introduce a pair of final girls who survive by leaning on each other. Along with their friends, Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding), twin niece and nephew of Randy Meeks, they battle a new generation of Ghostface killers who’ve grown up obsessed with the Stab series. Though Scream (2022) features heavy involvement from Sidney and Gale, Scream VI is a franchise anomaly. Not only is Sidney not present at all, but Gale is sidelined for the final showdown.
Once again, Kirby steps in to fill the void and becomes a legacy character.
In a touching scene, she offers Tara advice on how to survive the unthinkable, mirroring Sydney’s own journey “out of darkness.” Kirby also has an endearing exchange with Mindy, who is following in her uncle’s footsteps as the franchise’s newest genre expert. Rather than a life-or-death trivia game, the two women quiz each other about franchise favorites, marveling at all they have in common while accepting where they disagree. We remember that Kirby once walked so Mindy could run and female horror fans see themselves reflected onscreen. It’s not often that we watch two confident women indulge in their love of genre lore without a hint of shame or diminishment.
With Dewey also absent from the narrative, tragically killed off in the previous film, Kirby steps into his law enforcement role while combining Gale’s investigatory skills. Though briefly framed as the newest killer — in the Scream world, everyone’s a suspect — Kirby makes it to the film’s climactic battle. Surrounded by Ghostface memorabilia, she’s stabbed by the very knife Charlie once used. Also shot several times, Kirby manages to stay alive and even lands the final kill, an honor reserved for Scream royalty. As the last of the three new Ghostfaces rises for a final blitz, Kirby crushes his head with a TV set, nodding to Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard), the saga’s fan-favorite killer.
Kirby’s Place Among Horror’s Greatest Final Girls
What has always differentiated the Scream series from a glut of similar slasher films is its willingness to reflect on itself while pushing stagnant tropes into modern times. More recent installments depict Gale and Sidney as battle-weary sister survivors, reuniting to guide Sam and Tara through their own empowerment. But Kirby is the key to linking both pairs.
The secret heart of Scream 4, she emerges as a relatable heroine and passes the torch to the next generation. She is a microcosm of the film’s most famous archetypes, simultaneously serving as law enforcement, investigator, horror expert, and final girl. But perhaps most impressive, she’s the only character to beat the killer at his own game, defanging the horror aficionado and forcing Ghostface to reveal his true colors.
Sadly, Panettiere’s untimely death means we must say goodbye to Kirby Reed. Though this loss is devastating, we leave the beloved character in a moment of strength. Wounded, but optimistic, she offers support to a new generation of final girls, reminding Sam and Tara, “If you ever need me, call. We’re all part of the same fucked up family now. And the legacy doesn’t have to be a bad thing.”
Through tears, I’m reminded of lines from Scream VI written to honor Sidney and Gale, which now apply to Kirby as well. After narrowly escaping a Ghostface attack, Gale sends a poignant message. “He didn’t get me,” she whispers while preparing for another recovery. “Tell Sidney, [Ghostface] never got me.”
Kirby has also survived two brutal massacres and risen from the ashes to guide a new generation of women. Like Sidney, “she deserves to have her happy ending.” Though we deeply mourn the loss of Panettiere, we honor her contribution to horror itself. As Kirby, she’s reimagined several long-standing archetypes, some first embodied only by men. She’s expanded our understanding of female empowerment and allowed horror fans from all walks of life to see themselves as a welcome part of their favorite story.
