Scream 6 Killer Twist Wasn't Part of the Original Plan

Just like with every other Scream film, the newly released Scream VI delivered a big twist in the film's third act and unmasked the surprising killers behind a new round of Ghostface attacks. These new killers, as many fans probably expected, had ties to other characters in previous Scream films, but the actual identity of this group wasn't known when the writing process began on Scream VI. WARNING: Major Scream VI spoilers below...

The killers behind the Scream VI Ghostface killings are revealed to be the father, brother, and sister of Richie Kirsch, the killer in the 2022 Scream film. The trio wanted to get revenge for Richie's death at the hands of Sam, but according to writer Guy Busick, "that actually wasn't part of the initial pitch."

"We just knew it was going to be a family, a secret family, and they had a slightly different motive for coming after Sam," Busick told EW. "The motive of the killers in the last film is very intellectual – it's more about an idea about toxic fans feeling that their franchise has fallen on hard times and 'we have to get it back on track,' and they're taking it so far. But it's very intellectual, it's very esoteric, and we wanted something really primal. It had to be more personal. That's when we found the Richie piece and we were like, 'Oh, that'll be fun, because it ties all the way back into our first movie together and it tells one big story.'"

Busick and writing partner James Vanderbilt wrote both of the new Scream movies, so tying their killers together made plenty of sense. That said, the reveal of Richie's family behind the masks was also rooted in all of Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson's Scream entries.

"The idea was that almost every Scream goes back," said Vanderbilt. "Scream 1 is Skeet [Ulrich's Billy Loomis] doing it because of what happened to his mother, so he's doing revenge for family. Laurie Metcalf['s Debbie Salt] in 2 is doing revenge for family. Scream 3, [Scott Foley's] Roman Bridger is part of Sid's family and doing his revenge for family. Scream 4 is Jill Roberts, who's also part of Sid's family. is doing it. So, it felt very much in line with definitely Laurie Metcalf, but very much in line with the whole franchise, in this interesting way. So, we were thrilled to be able to do that and getting watch all three of them work as a family. It was super fun."

Scream VI is now playing in theaters.