Scream VI is just a few months away, and the official trailer gave us an intimate look at the fresh and familiar faces of the star-studded cast. After his untimely demise in Scream (2022), we know that David Arquette’s Dewey won’t be returning, plus recent developments in the Neve Campbell controversy mean she won’t be reprising her role as Sidney Prescott in the sixth installment due to a dispute over pay. Courteney Cox’s Gale Weathers, the last woman standing of the original trio, seems to have a minor role in Scream VI, but mostly takes a backseat to allow younger talent to shine. Some franchise newcomers are becoming mainstays, whereas stars from older sequels are making a comeback. Regardless, there’s a whole host of characters in Scream VI, which sees Ghostface return to terrorize New York City.
Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett — collectively known as Radio Silence (Ready or Not) — are joined by screenwriters James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick as the crew behind Scream (2022) prepares for another outing. In Scream VI, four survivors of the original Woodsboro murders relocate to New York looking for a fresh start, but the past comes back to haunt them when a killing spree breaks out in The Big Apple. We have some truly famous names migrating to the Scream franchise, as well as some recurring characters. They’re known to us as the cast of Scream VI, but where else do we know them from?
Jenna Ortega
If you haven’t heard her name tossed around recently, then there’s no other conclusion to draw other than this — you’ve been living under a rock for months. Jenna Ortega has made appearances in Netflix’s You and teen drama The Fallout, but her most prominent roles are also her most recent; she starred as Lorraine Day in Ti West’s universally successful slasher, X, then filled the shoes of Christina Ricci to portray Wednesday Addams in Netflix’s Wednesday. The 20-year-old actress entered the Scream franchise as Tara Carpenter in 2022’s Scream and lived to tell the tale, so here she comes again for another round.
Hayden Panettiere
Hayden Panettiere has been acting since the ’90s, starting out her career as a teenager. In fact, she technically appeared on-screen for the first time at 11 months old for a commercial back in 1990. By 1994, she was playing Sarah Roberts on the long-running ABC soap series One Life to Live, then went on to star in Disney Channel originals like Remember the Titans and Tiger Cruise. Perhaps her most famous teen role comes in Racing Stripes, wherein she portrays Channing Walsh, a young wannabe jockey who wishes to ride “Stripes,” a fumbling zebra, in the Kentucky Open race. Panettiere has also dabbled in video games, voicing Kairi and Xion in Kingdom Hearts and providing the motion capture performance for Samantha Giddings in Supermassive Games’ Until Dawn. She’ll be reprising her role as Kirby Reed from Scream 4.
Melissa Barrera
Mexican actress Melissa Barrera turned heads with her performance as Vanessa in Jon M. Chu’s In the Heights, but her career started in 2011 as a contestant on the reality series La Academia, which led to roles in various telenovelas such as Siempre tuya Acapulco, Tanto amor and Netflix’s Club de Cuervos. Before In the Heights, she became famous outside of Mexico for her role as Lynda Hernandez in Starz’ drama series Vida. Like Ortega, she entered the slasher scene with Scream (2022) and will be reprising her role as Jenna Ortega’s on-screen sister, Sam Carpenter, in Scream VI.
Samara Weaving
Now, here’s an actress who’s no stranger to the horror genre. Back in 2015, Samara Weaving appeared in the first season of Ash vs Evil Dead, which led to her landing a lead role in 2017’s Mayhem by Joe Lynch. She didn’t establish herself as a scream queen, however, until later that year, when she starred as Bee in the black comedy horror The Babysitter. It was Weaving’s starring role as Grace Le Domas in Radio Silence’s Ready or Not that earned her international fame and established her as a scream queen. She has yet to make her debut in the Scream franchise, but her character Sasha seems to be remaining a mystery for the most part.
Courteney Cox
We all know her, we all love her. Making her debut as Gale Weathers in 1996’s Scream, Courteney Cox is the last woman standing of the original Woodsboro trio — Sidney, Gale, and Dewey — and will likely be singing her swan song with an appearance in Scream VI. Before landing the role of Gale, Cox gained international recognition for her turn as Monica Geller in NBC’s long-running sitcom Friends, which become universally popular. She’s commonly seen co-starring with Adam Sandler, whom she acts alongside in The Longest Yard and Bedtime Stories. It’s also common knowledge that she married Scream co-star David Arquette in 1999, but announced in October 2010 that the pair had separated. Before Scream (2022) and the upcoming Scream VI, Cox featured in a documentary about her ex-husband called You Cannot Kill David Arquette in 2020.
Mason Gooding
Although his career didn’t start until 2018, it was his role as Parker Jones in the sports comedy series Ballers that allowed Mason Gooding to move on to bigger and better ventures. Roles in comedies like Booksmart and Let It Snow eventually landed Gooding a spot in the Scream (2022) cast as Chad Meeks-Martin, the brother of Mindy Meeks-Martin with a stereotypical frat boy persona. In 2022, Gooding starred as Dan in Scott Mann’s successful thriller Fall, also starring Grace Caroline Currey, Virginia Gardner and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Perhaps his most notable television role came in Hulu’s Love, Simon spin-off Love, Victor, which sees Gooding portray the over-confident jock Andrew Spencer. After narrowly escaping Ghostface in Scream (2022), he’ll be reprising his role as Chad in the sixth installment.
Liana Liberato
Making her Scream VI debut as the mysterious Carly, Liana Liberato has been acting since 2005 with small, one-episode roles in crime dramas like The Inside, Cold Case and CSI: Miami. From there, she snagged her first feature-film role in The Last Sin Eater and had a taste of fame in If I Stay, co-starring with Chloë Grace Moretz. Numerous other roles in dramas and comedies the following years, including To the Bone, Measure of a Man, and To the Stars eventually led Liberato to her role in Scream VI, but we’ve yet to see the significance that her character will have in the story — or if she’ll even survive the massacre.
Jasmin Savoy Brown
It was perhaps her brief turns in Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Grey’s Anatomy that put Jasmin Savoy Brown‘s name on the map, but it was undoubtedly her role as Taissa Turner in Yellowjackets that truly cemented her as a noteworthy actress. She also provided the voice of Evra in the animated comedy series Final Space, before eventually solidifying herself as a Scream mainstay as Mindy Meeks-Martin, the no-nonsense sister of Mason Gooding’s Chad. At just 28 years old, there’s no telling how far Brown will go before she becomes a household name like some of her Scream co-stars.
Scream VI‘s eccentric cast also includes Josh Segarra (Orange Is the New Black, She-Hulk), Devyn Nekoda (Degrassi), Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Spider-Man: No Way Home) and Jack Champion (Avatar: The Way of Water), all of whom are joining the crew for the first time.
All will be revealed as to the depth and importance of these characters when Scream VI slashes its way into theaters on March 10, 2023.