Scream VI Directors Explain Why They Didn't Kill SPOILER

By Jamie Jirak

Scream VI was released in theaters this month, and it's having a successful run at the box office. The movie is also fairing well with critics and audiences alike, earning a 77% critics score and a 92% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. While there's no official word on whether or not the franchise will be adding a seventh installment, there are plenty of characters who could return. Warning: Spoilers Ahead! Not only did longtime franchise character Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and Scream 4's Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere) survive the events of Scream VI, but the "core four" characters from the fifth film – Sam (Melissa Barrera), Tara (Jenna Ortega), Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown), and Chad (Mason Gooding) – also made it out alive. During a recent interview with Fangoria, directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett explained why they didn't kill any returning characters. 

"I think we talked about it, because we always do, we did with the last one too of like, 'Do we need to kill more people?' I think every time we thought about it for a second, it just felt callous, it weirdly felt like it was reaching outside of what the movie was aiming to do, which I think in our minds was to feel really good and cathartic at the end. I think to also be a twist on itself, just the expectation of like 'Franchise! Bigger bloodbath, bigger body count,' Mindy says all of those things, and we're like, 'No, it doesn't have to be that.' The idea that it can challenge itself is really fun to us," Gillett explained. 

Bettinelli-Olpin added, "I also think in the last one with Dewey's death, it's so hard, and it's supposed to be hard, and then the movie has to deal with that for the next 15-20 minutes. In a very real way, we need to slow the movie down, everybody needs to handle this, and I think with this movie, by design, it's sort of out of a shotgun goes to the end, so there's also this part where we wouldn't want to do a disservice and kill characters and then just move on. I think one of the things we really liked about Scream 5 was that it actually did take the time – while it was really hard to kill Dewey – to see how that affected Gale, how it affected Sid." 

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Has Scream VII Been Discussed? 

There is no official word on if there will be another Scream movie, but they announced Scream VI less than a month after the release of Scream (2022), so we wouldn't be surprised if another film was announced soon. At the red carpet premiere for Scream VI, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett revealed they'd love to return to the franchise once again with Scream VII. "We hope," Bettinelli-Olpin told Deadline. "We want to be watching Scream movies whether we're involved or not for the rest of our lives." Gillett added, "We're so happy it's back."

Scream VI is now playing in theaters. 

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