Scream 6 Is The First Time Courteney Cox Didn't Know Who Ghostface Was
And then there was one. After David Arquette's Dewey Riley tragically bowed out in last year's fifth "Scream" installment and franchise icon Neve Campbell was unfortunately left out of the action this time around as Sidney Prescott, only one of the original trio is still around and available to be traumatized in the upcoming "Scream VI." (You can read /Film's review by Chris Evangelista here.) Courteney Cox's Gale Weathers has seen it all by this point, surviving multiple Ghostface attacks by multiple Ghostface killers — oftentimes within the same movie. Though now far away from the deadly confines of Woodsboro and intent on selling her book in New York City, the past proves tricky to shake off completely.
Along with a very welcome familiar face in Hayden Panettiere's Kirby and the young returning cast from "Scream" (2022), Gale is apparently cursed to fend off Ghostface for the rest of her life. But as much as the series' conventions can't be easily avoided, "Scream VI" at least threw one major curveball at Cox while filming the highly-anticipated sequel.
In an interview with Variety, the actor revealed the refreshing twist that the filmmakers provided for her on-set experience. In a major change from the previous "Scream" movies, Cox admitted that her experiences with Ghostface mirrored her character's. She had absolutely no idea who the killer was meant to be:
"I have a really good scene with Ghostface and it was amazing. I've obviously been stabbed many times and all that, but this time, to work with Ghostface and not know who's under the mask, it was a really fun. Usually by the time I'm getting stabbed, I know who it is."
Ignorance is not bliss
Ghostface may sound the same in every single "Scream" movie (because he's voiced by actor Roger L. Jackson), but the killer who actually wears the mask always differs from film to film. After the 1996 original gave us the double-whammy twist involving both Skeet Ulrich's Billy and Matthew Lillard's Stuart, the subsequent sequels have attempted to deliver consistently shocking reveals and last-minute twists — and Gale Weathers has survived them all.
In "Scream VI," however, we see the franchise legend undergo a role-reversal of sorts. The trailer gives us a glimpse of Gale in her cushy New York apartment, picking up the phone to take a very familiar call that was first immortalized by Neve Campbell. This is likely the scene that Courteney Cox is referring to, as unbeknownst to her we see a much more formidable Ghostface already prowling around her apartment and ready to get all stabby on her. So who could the killer be this time around? Well, that's obviously being kept under wraps for audiences to find out for themselves later this week. But having not seen the film for myself, I'll go ahead and put my wild stab in the dark (see what I did there?) on the record that Kirby narrowly avoiding death in "Scream 4" (the best "Scream" sequel, don't @ me) has done a number on her and caused her to go to the dark side.
Or maybe directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have a much more interesting twist up their sleeve. We won't have to wait much longer for the secrets to be revealed, as "Scream VI" slashes into theaters on March 10, 2023.