List of Scream (film series) characters

Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Courteney Cox have central roles in the first four films, and supporting roles in the fifth film, with only Cox returning for the sixth film. Jamie Kennedy has a central role in the first two films, and Hayden Panettiere has a central role in the fourth and sixth films, while Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Mason Gooding, and Jasmin Savoy Brown have central roles in the fifth and sixth films.

Kevin Williamson's, Wes Craven's, and Radio Silence's American meta horror murder mystery and slasher film series Scream features a large cast of characters, many of whom were originally created by Kevin Williamson with contributions from Wes Craven (who directed the first four installments in the series) and Ehren Kruger (who wrote the third), and subsequently by new writers Guy Busick and James Vanderbilt with contributions from directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and producer Chad Villella. The series comprises six films: Scream (1996), Scream 2 (1997), Scream 3 (2000), Scream 4 (2011), Scream (2022), and Scream VI (2023), with a seventh film in active development.

The series focuses on a succession of murderers who adopt a ghost-like disguise, dubbed Ghostface (voiced by Roger L. Jackson) who taunt and attempt to kill Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) in the first four films. She is assisted by ambitious news reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and police officer Dewey Riley (David Arquette). The fifth and sixth films shift focus to half-sisters Sam and Tara Carpenter (Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega) and twin siblings Chad and Mindy Meeks-Martin (Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown), referred to as the "Core Four" in the sixth film, while the seventh film will "start from scratch" with regards to its principal cast.^[1] Other major recurring characters include film-geek Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy), falsely accused Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber), single mother Judy Hicks (Marley Shelton), and FBI agent Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere).

The first four films in the series were directed by Craven and scored by Marco Beltrami. Williamson wrote Scream, Scream 2 and Scream 4, but scheduling commitments meant he could provide only notes for Scream 3, with writing duties instead helmed by Ehren Kruger, while Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett direct the fifth and sixth films, with writing duties instead helmed by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Each film provides a motive and grounds for suspicion for several characters, concealing the identity of the true killer or killers until the finale, in which their identities and motivations are revealed. In Scream, the fictional town of Woodsboro is besieged by a masked killer who focuses on Sidney, revealed in the finale as Sidney's boyfriend Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), aided by his friend Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard). Billy admits to being responsible for the murder of Sidney's mother Maureen Prescott, to take revenge for an affair Maureen had with Billy's father that caused his mother to "abandon" him. In Scream 2, copycat killers again stalk Sidney and her friends, before being revealed as Sidney's friend Mickey Altieri (Timothy Olyphant) and Billy Loomis' mother (Laurie Metcalf). In Scream 3, another killer hunts Sidney, implying to have a link to her tragic past, prior to the events of the original film. The killer is revealed to be Roman Bridger (Scott Foley), Sidney's unknown maternal half-brother, who wants revenge for his rejection and abandonment by their mother. Roman is revealed to have been responsible for instructing Billy to kill Maureen before the events of Scream, setting in motion the events that occur in each successive film. In Scream 4, a killer appears when Sidney returns to Woodsboro on the fifteenth anniversary of the original killings. This killer is revealed to be Sidney's cousin Jill Roberts (Emma Roberts), with horror film fan Charlie Walker (Rory Culkin) serving as her accomplice. In Scream (2022), the killers are revealed to be horror fans Amber Freeman (Mikey Madison) and Richie Kirsch (Jack Quaid) who, dissatisfied with what Stab (a slasher film series based on previous Ghostface killings) has become, decide to make their own new "source material" for it with their own killings, meaning to frame Billy's daughter Sam for them. In Scream VI, the first two killers are revealed as film students Jason Carvey (Tony Revolori) and Greg Bruckner (Thom Newell), former classmates of Richie's seeking to "finish Richie's movie", before three other independent killers are revealed as Richie's avenging family: siblings Quinn (Liana Liberato) and Ethan (Jack Champion), and father Wayne Bailey (Dermot Mulroney).