Before you see ‘Scream 6,’ let’s take a look at every past killer of the franchise so far

The original Scream movie came out back in 1996. Almost 30 years later, we’re up to the sixth movie in the slasher horror franchise, Scream 6, set to release in theaters on March 10. We’ll have a new set of killers to be added to the list from the first five movies. Also, based on the trailer, we’ll get a glimpse of every killer from past films. With that, you’ll likely want to refresh your memory a bit. Here we’ll go over the killers from each film.

Scream killer history

Scream (1996)

In the original film, Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) and Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard) were the killers. Billy was the boyfriend of Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), the movie's main character. Billy fakes his death to trick Sidney and reveals himself toward the end along with Stu. The main character in the current Scream movies, Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera), is the illegitimate daughter of Loomis. There was also a character in Scream 5, Vince Schneider, who was said to be the nephew of Stu.

Scream 2 (1997)

The sequel to Scream came out one year later, similar to how 5 and 6 are lining up. Scream 2 all links back to the original, a theme preached throughout the movie franchise. After leaving Woodsboro, Sidney and Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) are at Windsor College. Ghostface follows them to college.

The two killers are Mickey Altieri (Timothy Olyphant), a classmate and friend of Sidney and Randy. Mickey was hired by Debbie Salt (Laurie Metcalf), a news reporter covering the murders at Windsor, revealed later to be Billy’s mother, Nancy Loomis. Mrs. Loomis finds Mickey on a serial killer registrar's website. Billy’s mother is just out for some “good ‘ole fashioned revenge” in Scream 2.

Scream 3 (2000)

Scream 3 is arguably the worst in the franchise, the only Scream movie to have just one killer. Sidney is in isolation, trying to avoid another run-in with Ghostface. The movie takes place in Los Angeles and follows the making of the upcoming “Stab 3” movie, a movie franchise within the movie franchise (super meta, we know).

The killer is Roman Bridger (Scott Foley), the director of Stab 3 and the long-lost half-brother of Sidney. Roman is also revealed to be the actual killer of Sidney’s mother, Maureen Prescott, known in Hollywood as Rina Reynolds. Sidney is lured out of hiding to “come to terms with me [her brother] and mother.”

Scream 4 (2011)

Almost a decade later, the franchise was rebooted with the late Wes Craven back to direct and Kevin Williamson writing a script after taking a break after the second film. “New decade. New Rules” was the tagline the studio used for the reboot of the franchise, and all the original “Big 3” of Sidney Prescott, Gale Weather (Courtney Cox), and Dewey Riley (David Arquette) were brought back for Scream 4.

The main killer links back to Sidney again. The two killers are Jill Roberts (Emma Roberts), who is Sidney’s cousin on her mother’s side, and Charlie Walker (Rory Culkin). Jill and Charlie try to frame Trevor, Jill’s ex-boyfriend, as the killer, similar to how Billy and Stu try to frame Sidney’s father in the original movie. Instead, Jill wants to become the next Sidney Prescott and make Charlie and Trevor look like Billy and Stu. As is tradition, Jill fails, and Sidney and the gang survive to see the next reboot.

Scream 5 (2022)

Again, almost another decade later, we have Scream 5 under directing team Radio Silence (Tyler Gillett & Matt Bettinelli-Olpin) and with new writers (Guy Busick & James Vanderbilt). We’re back in Woodsboro with a new set of teens (sort of) and a new heroine Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera), the illegitimate daughter of Billy Loomis. Her sister Tara (Jenna Ortega) is attacked by Ghostface, luring Sam back home. Dewey, Sidney, and Gale are all brought back into the fray again.

The killers in this movie are Richie Kirsch (Jack Quaid), Sam’s boyfriend, and Amber Freeman (Mikey Madison), Tara’s best friend. Richie and Amber are simply pissed off Stab fans who were radicalized by message boards after the latest Stab movie tanks. Richie and Amber also know Sam’s past and her connection to Billy, so the idea, again, is to frame Sam as the killer. It plays back to the original, but everybody knows you don’t mess with the daughter of a serial killer.

Scream 6 (2023)

Killers???? Possibly you! Just kidding. We pick things up again with Sam and Tara in New York City, along with Mindy and Chad, the niece and nephew of Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy from Scream/Scream 2). There are new characters and a “different” Ghostface.