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Theories for this film
The identity of the new Ghostface
- Jack Quaid's character, Richie. A very popular guess amongst fans prior to release, and the trailer even shows him in a similar situation (getting attacked in front of the Final Girl) that Billy was in in the first Scream.
- Confirmed.
- Vince. Kyle Gallner notably couldn't reveal much about his role rather than his name and a basic, brief description, which could imply that he will have a role heavily associated with whatever secrets are hidden in Woodsboro according to the official synopsis.
- Jossed.
- Kirby. She barely survived the events of the last movie, but she never got any media attention of sympathy from the rest of the survivors. She's decided that Sidney, Gale, and Dewey are threats because they always draw the attention of lunatics and decides to take matters into her own hands.
- Jossed, the only time she appears is when her name shows up in a Freeze-Frame Bonus.
- Emma Duval. After going through three spree killings of her own she's finally snapped. She believes that if Sidney was a truly good person she would have reached out to her after Emma's own struggles, but since she didn't Sidney must be faking her trauma and using her survival for clout. Emma wants to "prove" to Sidney just how bad things can get.
- Jossed.
- Stu. He was originally supposed to make a return in Scream 2, he's familiar with the original survivors and it was shown in Scream that he had a twisted obsession with violence and horror, which may allude to the "it's an honour" line Ghostface says to Sidney in the trailer. Afterall, Sidney has successfully become the Final Girl 4 times. It would be an honour for a deranged killer to meet such a legend, especially considering she's The One That Got Away.
- Jossed.
Sidney will prematurely kill/attack one of the teens, thinking they're Ghostface
Due to paranoia, Sidney may attack Richie if he evokes some rather negative memories about Billy Loomis. If it turns out he isn't the killer, however, the new Ghostface will pop out which will lead to the confrontation as seen in the first trailer.- Jossed.
- Not jossed. She does shoot him. But It turns out he is half of Ghostface in the film.
Sam Carpenter is Billy Loomis's illegitimate daughter.
- Confirmed.
One of the characters in this movie will be gay
And they'll survive to the end of the movie.- Jasmin Savoy Brown's character is seen in the trailer wearing a pride pin on her jumper. And the actress herself is openly queer.
- According to a leak, Tara, Jenna Ortega's character and Amber, Mikey Madison's character, were formerly in a relationship.
- The leak is Jossed, Tara and Amber were only friends. But the rest is confirmed, as Mindy is seen hooking up with a girl and does survive to the end.
- This may not be Jossed, as there are lots of implications that they are or were dating, including Amber's protectiveness towards Tara and the fact that Tara keeps an extra inhaler at her house. This would mean that BOTH killers are in relationships with the Final Girls, furthering the theme of Richie and Amber being unimaginatively obsessed with the first Stab.
- Confirmed. Mindy is making out with a girl at the party, and she survives.
This Ghostface does not want to kill Sidney
Rather, they admire her for her sheer determination and skill for survival ("It's an honor, Sidney.") and not only doesn't have Sidney on their kill list, but they will actively avoid attempting to kill her. Sidney will force the issue (after four Screams, she's like that), and the Ghostface will come around to it, both to stop her from thwarting them and getting pumped at the idea of finally succeeding where all the previous Ghostfaces failed.- Alternately, if there are again two killers, one wants to kill her or is quite willing to do so, and the other is a fan of her and actively does NOT want to kill her, and the film will end in a Ghostface battle.note
- Jossed, in fact, killing her is the main event of Amber and Ritchie’s plan.
- Partially confirmed. Sidney doesn't know Ghostface, who actually just wants a good Stab movie, but they were in the movie the whole time.
One of the members of the original main trio will die
So far, most fans seem to be looking at Dewey who'll be the one to bite the dust, mainly due to a shot in the trailer where Gale seems to be distraught in front of an ambulance and an enraged Judy speeding down a road, perhaps out of grief due to his death.- Confirmed, Dewey does unfortunately bite it.
If he doesn't die, this film will continue the Running Gag of Dewey getting severely injured
Maybe the hospital confrontation is him tracking the new Ghostface's movements and deciding to prematurely try and kill them. However, he's instead critically injured which could explain the above scenes, as well as put him out of commission to give Sidney and Gale more focus.- Zigzagged, Dewey does die although the amount of damage he’s been through does get brought up by him in an earlier scene.
The killer in this movie is a complete stranger
The tagline on the poster says "It's always somebody you know", which feels like an obvious misdirection. When Sidney unmasks the killer, he will be somebody the characters never met before. He's just a Loony Fan who wanted to start his own Ghostface killing spree.- Jossed, it’s Amber and Ritchie, characters we and the other characters have gotten to know beforehand.
The film will be a commentary on direct-connect sequels
The films have all been commentaries on variety of aspects of horror films. The first film was about slasher films and their tropes. The second film, about sequels and their escalation. The third film was about trilogies and their reflecting back to show that there was something about the first film that wasn't true. The fourth film was about reboots, and basically how annoying they are. The fifth film will be a commentary on direct-connect sequels, like the ones for Halloween (2018) and Terminator: Dark Fate, which disregards any of the other films in the franchise and is meant to be directly a connected to the original as if it were a true second film (even if it is the fourth/fifth/six+ film in the series). This explains why the killers in the film is targeting "those related to the killer in the original", and why Sidney, Gale and Dewey are back for the film as well (much like how Jamie Lee Curtis reprised her role as Laurie Strode, though her character was killed off in Halloween: Resurrection, and like Linda Hamilton reprising her role as Sarah Connor, despite her character dying off screen between the second and third films). It will also poke fun at grittier feeling of said reboots, and this film will lack the humor of the past films (including the first one).- Confirmed. Although there is still humor in the film, the humor isn't on par with past films.
One of the new characters is Roman Bridger's illegitimate child
However, they won't be the killer. They'll have tracked Sidney down with the hopes of apologizing for all the trouble Roman caused her. Ghostface will have found about their relation to Roman before the movie started and attempts to frame them for Avenging the Villain.- Jossed.
- However, Sam is the daughter of a Ghostface killer (just not Roman) and the new Ghostface killers do intend to frame her as part of their plan by making it seem as though she is Avenging the Villain (though it’s Billy, not Roman).
At least one, if not all, of the attacks in the trailer are actually from Stab
But rather than it being an official entry, it's a fan-film that some of the main characters are making.- Zigzagged, the scene of Ghostface wearing a metal mask and using a flamethrower ends up being from Stab 8, an official entry which was highly controversial with the fanbase.
One of the original trio is Ghostface.
Well ok, probably not Sidney. But the tagline is "It's always somebody you know". Who do we know better than Dewey and Gale? (Or to a lesser extent, Hicks?)- Jossed.
The killer will be motivated by race
We don't know what role this character serves yet, but I feel the connection between the main characters will be they're all in a support group from past traumas. This franchise gets a kick out of mocking hot button issues in society at the time like media sensationalism or people who believe horror movies motivate murderers. Since race relations are being covered so heavily in the news right now, maybe the killer believes Sidney only got so much attention because she's white. They think they're some crusader for BIPOC who haven't gotten as much attention as Sidney, but as this franchise thrives on Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse it'll just be someone who enjoys what they did and this makes them feel like it's okay. Or it will be someone planning to pull a Charles Manson and it'll be a tract on white supremacy.- Jossed, the motive is based on rebooting the Stab franchise.
Relationship matters
In the second teaser, we learn that Dylan Minnette’s character’s name is Wes Hicks. Judy Hicks, of course, is confirmed to appear in this film. Additionally, Jasmin Savoy Brown’s character is also revealed to be Mindy Meeks-Martin. A familial relationship to Randy, perhaps? Additionally, Liv McKenzie (portrayed by Sofia Ben Ammar) has the same surname as the neighbors of Casey Becker’s family in the first film. The trailer seemingly confirms that the new killer is going after relatives of people linked to the original murder spree.- Confirmed, Randy Meeks is Mindy and Chad’s uncle, setting them up in Ghostface’s crosshairs, as well as Judy and Wes due to Judy’s previous encounter with Ghostface. Another victim, Vince, is revealed to be the nephew of Stu Macher. Liv, however, we never find out about.
Ghostface will once again be related to Sidney
Unlike Sidney's past relatives, Roman and Jill, who hated her guts and wanted her dead for different reasons, this Ghostface will be another relative who believes they are doing the right thing by going after and killing family members of past Ghostfaces. It's been made pretty clear that Sidney comes from a broken family tree of pretty unstable people, and this Ghostface will be no different. And like it was mentioned above, Sidney constantly interfering will eventually cause this new Ghostface to understand why Roman and Jill hated her and decide to try and kill her as well for being ungrateful.- Jossed. In fact (talk about a subversion) the one with the most direct relation and practically the same as Scream 2's major Ghostface, Debbie Loomis (a familial tie to Billy), Sam Carpenter is not only the protagonist but also the one who helps to solve the conflict by killing her boyfriend Richie, one of the actual Ghostfaces.
Tara survives her initial attack
This might be a long shot, though it is possible that Tara survives the first attack to send a message to Sam (who, if the rumor that the two share the same surname “Carpenter” is true, might be her sister). There are brief scenes in the trailers where Sam is at a hospital where she encounters Sidney, and another suggesting she gets attacked there. It is possible she is visiting Tara while she is recuperating from her injuries.- Confirmed.
There will be multiple Ghostfaces and one of them will die early
As in previous installments, there will be multiple Ghostface killers, but rather than dispatching all of them during the climax, Sydney will kill one of them early in the movie, motivating the surviving one(s) to switch to the metal mask seen in the promotional materials.- Zigzagged, there are multiple Ghostfaces, but they don’t die until Act 3.
There will be a nod or reference to Danny Johnson/Jed Olson
Danny Johnson alias Jed Olsen is the identity of the Ghostface seen in the asymmetrical horror game Dead by Daylight. The metal mask seen in some trailers is also present in the game as a cosmetic. It may be a stretch but there may be a passing reference to Johnson's killings as a "copycat" of the Woodsboro Killers.- Jossed.
Stab 8 was intentionally ridiculous
The in-universe Rian Johnson decided to go over the top in order to parody bad horror sequels and how they escalate into absurdity. Unfortunately, people didn't get the joke and assume all the goofy stuff was meant to be taken at face value. Stab 7 was directed by J. J. Abrams
It's stated that Rian Johnson is the director of Stab 8 in universe. It'd make sense that Stab 7 was directed by J.J. Abrams, and most of what Johnson was subverting in Stab 8 was story choices made by Abrams. And Stab 7 was a loose genderflipped remake of the first film, with the exact same story beats. Liv was actually a third killer and was the one that killed Dewey
Amber explains she was the one one that killed Dewey but as others pointed before in the hospital YMMV section. Amber is way smaller in height and built than the ghost face that killed him in the hospital and Liv seems closer in height to that ghost face then amber, but amber betrayed her because she wanted the credit for it when her and Richie kill Sidney, as-well as taking Mindy’s criticism to heart and finding her too boring to be a killer.- Also her being greatly offended by Mindy’s “Can’t be the killer” insults after their last conversation, commenting the expert always dies in the movies despite seemingly not into them and a scene after that Mindy gets stabbed by ghost-face.
- More to this amber or Richie would have to be acting pretty fast to pull that stunt considering Tara responds to the noise of Mindy getting attacked pretty fast and Liv had blood on her hands.
A fictionalized Judy Hicks was the "Mary Sue" of Stab 8
- Wes refers to his mother as a Stab franchise character, while that may have been a meta way of saying she was involved in a set of killings, if we take it at face value then the only movie she would have sensibly been in is Stab 8 (Stab 7 was already out before the killings she was involved in started). Given that we are told Stab 8 had a divisive "mary sue" female lead, and the fact that Judy is an Action Girl that played a part in taking down the last Ghostface, it's entirely plausible the "mary sue" was at least based on her. This could also explain why she and her son were targets despite every target being connected to the original killings, she represented what they hated about the last sequel.
The hallucinations of Billy Loomis aren't hallucinations.
It's the real Billy Loomis' ghost trying to protect his daughter, because although he's a psychotic murder, Even Evil Has Loved Ones. The reason he doesn't say anything she doesn't know is because he's intentionally keeping quite about things he's seen, or he's never let his daughter leave his sight once. Theories for the sixth installment
If there's ever a sixth film...
- A good portion of it will be set in Hollywood again.
- Sam and Tara's mother will be a prominent character.
- More relatives of characters from previous sequels will be included.
- It'll be revealed that the Stab franchise is being retired.
- Or if there is a Stab 9, it'll be an attempt at winning back the fans by doing something similar to what the villains of the prior film wanted. Embracing the legacy more, even to the point of actually doing the whole "Stu is alive" idea, kind of like Palpatine in Star Wars The Rise Of Skywalker. Maybe it's even more critically panned than Stab 8 and spells the end of the film series.
- Sidney will be Demoted to Extra in order to focus on the Carpenter sisters.
- It'll show at least one person crusading to have the "Father Death" costumes discontinued.
- Either Deputy Farney or Deputy Vinson will be shown to have become the new Sheriff of Woodsboro.
- Chad will visit Liv's grave, either out of habit or in response to the latest Ghostface.
- All of the survivors will be dealing with PTSD in their own ways, not to mention Kirby will have been affected by being the sole survivor of the 2011 Ghostface killings. She'll be more frazzled and less humorous.
- Kirby and Mindy will have a Vitriolic Best Buds dynamic given how both of them are snarky film fans.
The Next Ghostface will be a Contrasting Sequel Antagonist to Richie and Amber
Specifically, they'll be a person who hates the Stab movies and their fans to such a point that they'd commit murder over them still being made and discredit them. They'd target creatives involved in the films and online personalities who like the in-universe franchise.Scream 6 will incorporate arthouse horror into its plot.
In Scream 4, Jill and Charlie utilized elements of Found Footage and Torture Porn in their killing spree because those were the popular horror trends in the early 2010s. Similarly, the Ghostface in Scream 6 will be someone influenced by elevated horror movies in contrast to Amber and Richie, who were stuck in the nostalgia phase of worshipping a '90s slasher movie and didn't catch up with modern horror movies as Tara noted.If the opening victim of Scream 6 survives, they will be revealed to be the mastermind.
Directly mirroring how Tara survived her opening attack and perhaps serving as an Evil Counterpart to Tara herself, the next opening victim will have actually planned out their own opening attack to immediately throw suspicion off themselves, while their accomplice(s) carry out the next killing spree.The sixth movie will be the first installment of the series to be subtitled.
It wouldn't make much sense to call it Scream 2 since that already exist, and it could provide meta commentary on how horror movies usually stop numbering sequels after enough time. Scream 6 will have Sam and Tara return
Sam and Tara Carpenter will return as the main characters. However, the big question will be once the murders start again in Woodsboro... are they once again being targeted like Sidney, or is one or both of them the killer this time. The reveal will be not what you expect. Ghostface in the sixth movie will be a No-Nonsense Nemesis
In contrast to all the previous killers deciding to gloat about their plan rather than simply kill the main characters, Ghostface after the reveal in this movie will waste no time and immediately attempt to kill the heroes every chance they get, with their motive being explained through other means instead of them providing exposition to their victims in the finale. Meta suggestions
- Controversial follow-ups to requels. There was a Last Jedi quality to the 8th Stab film, but draw upon it, Halloween Kills, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, even stuff like Halloween: Resurrection. Maybe this Ghostface is exploiting that quality by doing something that could shock and split the minds of people, whether it's related to the Stab fanbase or not.
- Requel follow-ups usually pretend to be a figurative remake of the original sequel, only to mimic another installment instead. The Last Jedi pretended to be The Empire Strikes Back but incorporated elements of Return of the Jedi, and Halloween Kills imitated Halloween II (1981) for a bit but became a redo of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. Thus, the sixth Scream movie will start off like Scream 2 but become a repeat of Scream 3, the most controversial entry of the original trilogy. This film's Ghostface could make something like that part of their plan, picking aspects that make people think the events will play out similar to how Scream 2 played out, only to swerve and go in a different direction.
- Original films vs IP Franchises. Maybe the Ghostface is tired of the fact that the Stab films still make money despite their quality whilst his original horror films (he could be a director/writer) get little success and attention despite them being well regarded. Or they just want to kill people and take up Ghostface because they feel the only way to be a serial killer and gain the kind of attention they crave is to take up the mantle despite them knowing little about the events of the prior films and even about how Ghostface operates. In this case, the new killer will be a Ghostface In Name Only and doesn't use the usual Ghostface tactics, such as harassing the victims with phone calls.
- The Two-Part Trilogy. Rather than one short lived scheme, this Ghostface wants to drag out the situation. There's a plan that will help set the stage for another more conclusive plan next time. The middle portion of a trilogy or a bridge film is a classic staple of cinematic storytelling and there are lots of examples you can draw from. Ghostface could be a figure who loves trilogies and is an extreme planner, the kind that will ensure that they will not be defeated and die by the "end" of their plan. Motive-wise it could be an attempt to take down both of the Carpenter sisters in a drawn out way, maybe because of hatred towards Sam for the Sins of the Father or for splitting up her parents.
The new Ghostfaces will be family members of former Ghostfaces' victims
Much like how Sidney was sometimes targeted by people who unfairly blamed her for her mother's actions, or used her as a sort of stand-in for Maureen (Billy, Mrs. Loomis, Roman, and Jill), the next set of Ghostfaces will be relatives of victims from the previous films targeting Sam because they blame her for her father's actions (since going by dialogue in this film it seems like Roman's part in masterminding the first Ghostface spree is being ignored) or see her as the closest thing to him. The new Ghostface will be a fan of or connected to other Ghostfaces who hates that Billy gets all the attention
They’ll be fans of Mickey or Roman or Jill, considering the Superior Successors to Billy and they’ll start a killing spree in their honor. Ghostface will be a returning character but not Sidney, Gale, or Sam
Returning Characters usually die. So what if someone was planning a killing spree but was beaten to the punch by their peers? Gale or Sidney being one of the killers would be Jumping the Shark at this point but some of the others could be fair game. The next Ghostface will be either Christina Carpenter or her ex-husband
Given the backstory teased in this film, it would make sense for one of them to be the killer next time. They've got a decent enough motive for at least targeting Sam and her bringing up her parentage did ruin her parent's relationship. Not to mention Christina's alcoholism could have been brought on or furthered by that reveal, or at least deemed to be that way, which could drive sometime to at least deem Sam worthy of murder. The film will have a scene where a movie director pitches their idea for Stab 9 to some studio executives
They'll be an on-the-nose parody of a well known film director and their pitch will be littered to the parodied director's known tendencies (i.e. a Quentin Tarantino stand-in would make sure to mention showing off the lead actress' feet, a Tim Burton stand-in would want to cast Johnny Depp as a main character, etc.).- There will be a producer that will be a parody of a current well-known producer (not using a Harvey Weinstein analog, as it was already done with the third film). The producer will be shown to resent the Stab franchise since the fans blame him or her for all their problems. They want to move on from it or quit, but can't since no one else in Hollywood wants to have their name associated with a property linked to multiple massacres.
The pitch meeting of the next stab film will have a parody of Kathleen Kennedy as a follow up gag to the stab 8 last Jedi joke
Which includes a lot references to what people believe of the real celebrity. It will reveal the only reason she retains her position as the producer of the Stab films after running the franchise into the ground is because she has some major dirt on the players in Hollywood who attended John Milton's parties, which includes the studio heads of Sunrise Studios (whose careers would be in ruins if that information got out). It'll be played for laughs to the previously established motives of Amber and Richie, the “requel” Star Wars joke coming full circle, and continue on the theme of corruption in Hollywood established with the third film still exists. The rules that'll be listed next time
1. The follow up to a legacy sequel will always include a character that was absent from the prior film, but was part of the entries before that film (Kirby in this case, other examples would be Yoda in Last Jedi, Tommy Doyle in Halloween Kills, Ian Malcolm in Jurassic World). And sometimes one legacy character will have more of a center stage than they did last time.- Kirby will presumably be the one assumed to be filling this role, given recent announcements.
2. The new characters introduced in the prior film will be more directly involved this time. Therefore more screen time and development.
3. There's some kind of breaking of the status quo. Rules that were apparent in the prior films will be broken and there will typically be some kind of big shakeup.
Despite what Gale said, Richie and Amber's motivations will become public knowledge
As a result, Stab fans as a whole will become both a pariah and a punchline both online and off, being held up as the "Golden Goose" of horrible fanbases. This could have a few different consequences:- A Stab fan grows so resentful of Richie and Amber that they target their relatives and/or other Stab 8 haters who they were friendly with on social media. They cover their tracks by pretending to hate Stab, as to not further harm his community's reputation.
- A diehard Stab Fan Hater will become Ghostface to kill fans who refuse to fully turn on the franchise. They'll "justify" it by saying said fans would become Ghostface imitators and insist that by becoming Ghostface, they're finally putting an end to Ghostface. Naturally, the protagonists will call them out on their hypocrisy and Insane Troll Logic.
- The stigma proves to be enough to keep (at least a good bulk of) said fans from going to see Stab 9. This ends up being what ultimately leads to the in-universe movie franchise ending. If not that, it'll at least get the execs to decide to hold off on going forward with yet another movie. This could allow for a plot that has nothing to do with in-universe movies.
- Amber and Richie will posthumously get a Monster Fangirl who tries to carry on their work...but they're a misaimed fan who doesn't even remotely understand that they were trying to do. So instead of trying to "fix Stab", she just targets people who disagree with her about movies and TV/streaming shows, thinking that it's what Richie and Amber would do while simultaneously projecting her own opinions onto them.
- A producer for the Stab franchise who is trying to move on from it or quit, but can't since no one else in Hollywood wants to have their name associated with a property linked to multiple massacres. They try to commit the highest kill count possible in hopes of forcing Sunrise Studios to permanently shelve the franchise and let them free of their contract.
The usual Ghostface duo formula will be subverted again.
But while Scream 3 featured only one Ghostface, Scream 6 will feature a trio of killers who will terrorize New York. Unlike Richie and Amber’s Big Bad Duumvirate, the mastermind Ghostface will be the Big Bad while their cohorts serve as Co-Dragons.- And to tie into the subversion, it's going to reveal that the killer (or one of the killers) was actually working with Roman in Scream 3 (as fans had hypothesized that there was no way for Roman to be able to do certain kills on his own without help. Also, one of the previous drafts had it where there were were killers like before). And it will be revealed that they were trying to be the mastermind of the past three films much like Roman did (being the one who got Jill, Charlie, Amber and Richie to commit their murders out of promising to do films based on their murders), essentially subverting the subversion on the number of killers involved in the third film.
