The fifth film in the Scream franchise -- dubbed a "requel" -- features some major legacy characters from the franchise's past in the form of Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), Dewey Riley (David Arquette) and Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), though decidedly puts the focus on its all-new cast of young stars. That said, the film does take a moment, albeit a very brief one, to quietly confirm the fate of a fan-favorite character from 2011's Scream 4.
Conceptually, Scream 4 was similar to 2022's Scream -- in that, it was a sequel released a decade after the previous film that saw beloved characters from the original movies join forces with (and, in some cases, be pitted against) a whole new generation. One such newcomer in Scream 4 was the character Kirby Reed, played by Hayden Panettiere.
Scream 5 Kirby Easter Egg Shocked Fans
In addition to being an incredibly charming and likable character in her own right, Panettiere's Kirby also had an encyclopedic knowledge of horror films, essentially making her the de facto successor to another fan-favorite character, Jamie Kennedy's Randy Meeks, who himself perished in Scream 2. Scream 4's trailers seemed to present Robbie Mercer (Erik Knudsen) and Charlie Walker (Rory Culkin) as the "new Randys," but by the time the film came out, it was clear that Kirby was the true heir to the movie geek throne.
Unfortunately, Kirby was also much like Randy in that, before all was said and done, she fell victim to Ghostface's knife. More specifically, Kirby was seemingly killed by the aforementioned Charlie, who was revealed to be in cahoots with mastermind killer Jill Roberts (Emma Roberts). However, two blink-and-you'll-miss-it-moments from 2022's Scream appear to confirm that Kirby managed to escape with her life after all.
Early in the new Scream movie, fans see ex-Sheriff Dewey Riley scrolling through the missed calls on his phone. Among the people Dewey has neglected to answer phone calls from is none other than Kirby Reed. And if that weren't enough, there is more concrete proof of Kirby's survival later on. While sitting in a hotel room, Richie Kirsch (Jack Quaid) watches YouTube videos in order to get up to speed on the fictional series of Stab films, which he has ostensibly never seen before. The video Richie is watching is hosted by film critics played by none other than James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca of Dead Meat.
However, if you look at the recommended tab, you'll see a video seemingly uploaded by Bloody Disgusting's YouTube channel that bears the title, "Interview with Woodsboro Survivor Kirby Reed!" While Kirby does not physically appear in the new movie, Panettiere does receive a special thanks credit for the use of her photo in the thumbnail.
Kirby Reed's Scream 5 Revelation Isn't Surprising
It both is and isn't surprising that the new Scream movie would go back on Kirby's apparent death. It is because franchise co-creator Kevin Williamson -- who wrote the original Scream, Scream 2 and Scream 4 before serving as an executive producer on the new film -- isn't too big on the idea of bringing back dead characters just because they're well-liked by fans. Quite the contrary, in fact.
During an interview with ComicBook.com last year, Williamson discussed Randy's death in Scream 2. "I remember people took [Randy's death] very hard because, at the time, that was a beloved character, which, to me, is what keeps the franchise moving, is that it's real," he said. "If you kill someone you really love, it makes it personal for people. I remember people going, 'He's not really dead, is he? He's not really dead. He's survived, didn't he?'" Williamson then reaffirmed, "Yeah, he's dead."
Wes Craven All But Confirmed Kirby's Survival
True to his word, no amount of fan support has brought Randy back to life, with 2022's Scream only serving to further cement his demise. Similarly, while there were supposedly once plans to resurrect Scream '96 co-killer Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard) as the main antagonist of Scream 3, this too never came to pass.
All that being said, Kirby being alive also isn't surprising, as it definitely seems as though that was the original intention of late franchise director Wes Craven. In the official audio commentary for Scream 4, Craven pointed out that after being stabbed, Kirby was still moving when the camera cut away from her, a sentiment the horror legend echoed on Twitter. When asked by a fan if Kirby was really dead, Craven replied, "I don't think so." Kirby was certainly in bad shape last fans saw her. This, of course, was confirmed by Kirby's return in Scream VI.