List of Scream (film series) characters

The American slasher film series Scream features a large cast of characters, many of whom were 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 seven films: Scream (1996), Scream 2 (1997), Scream 3 (2000), Scream 4 (2011), Scream (2022), Scream VI (2023), and Scream 7 (2026). 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. The seventh film again centers around Sidney, with Ghostface also threatening her daughter Tatum (Isabel May). Other major recurring characters include film-geek Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy), falsely accused opportunist 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, which was written by Ehren Kruger. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett directed the fifth and sixth films, with writing duties helmed by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. Williamson later returned to writing Scream 7 (co-wrote with Guy Busick), which is also the first film in the franchise he directed. 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.