Characters / Scream: Gale Weathers

Main Character Index
Movies: Recurring Characters (Sidney Prescott | Gale Weathers | Dewey Riley | Sam Carpenter) | Ghostface (Scream 4 Mastermind) | Scream (1996) | Scream 2 | Scream 3 | Scream 4 | Scream (2022) | Scream VI
TV Series: MTV Series | Resurrection

Gale Riley (née Weathers)

"Hey, you'd better check your conscience at the door, sweetie. I'm not here to be loved."

Played By: Courteney Cox

Appearances: Scream (1996) | Scream 2 | Scream 3 | Scream 4 | Scream (2022) | Scream VI

"People treat me like I'm the anti-Christ of television journalism."

A reporter who, in the first film, is fighting to prove that Cotton Weary did not commit the murder that he was put on death row for, and returns to Woodsboro for the one-year anniversary and to cover the new string of murders. Come the sequel, she's written a book about the Woodsboro murders, which has been adapted into a film, and comes to Windsor College to cover yet another killing spree. Has a rather abrasive personality.

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A-M

• Abusive Parents: She offhandedly mentions that her parents were horrible people in VI after Tara tells her about her relationship with her parents after Sam discovered the truth about her biological father. Thus, it's possible that her Jerkass behavior was the result of a bad raising.
• Accidental Hero: Gale turns up in Sidney's hospital room shortly after Jill incapacitates Dewey while trying to kill Sidney, presumably just to see if her friend is well. Gale stalling Jill as Sidney grabs a defibrillator gives the latter enough time to shock her, which shifts the fight out of Jill's favor.
• The Ace: When it comes to detective work, there's nobody in the entire franchise capable of comparing to her. She is able to correctly deduce that Cotton is innocent, comes close to solving the mystery in the second film, gathers all the information needed about Sidney's mom in the third film, and catches the killer in the fourth movie out on an inconsistency. In the sixth movie, the killer outright acknowledges that Gale found the shrine way before the group was supposed to. Gale herself is more than aware of her success rate, throwing it in the faces of any cop who tries to block her investigation.
• Action Girl: Gale is just as ruthless in a fight as she is in her tactics as a journalist, and many Ghostface have learned that the hard way. She manages to get the drop on Billy and Stu with a gun during the first film's finale (although she's quickly tricked and knocked out by the former), kills Mickey in a joint kill with Sidney during 2, brutally beats up and shoots down Amber in revenge for Dewey's murder in 5, and manages to put up one hell of a fight against Ghostface when she is attacked midway through 6.
• Aesop Amnesia: In every single movie (except 4), Gale learns her lesson not to exploit Sidney's trauma and play into the fame-hungry Ghostfaces. She then has to do it all over again. This is especially clear in VI when she made a point in 5 not to write about the murders in Scream 5, only to reveal that she did it after all in VI.
• Age-Gap Romance:
  • There's a seven year age difference between her and Dewey, who is 25 when they first meet while Gale is around 32.
  • In VI, she's shown to be dating a man named Brooks, who is clearly quite a bit younger than her. Although the character's exact age isn't specified, there's a 22-year age gap between the actors.
• Agonizing Stomach Wound: Suffers this in the sixth movie but manages to just barely survive thanks to the paramedics arriving shortly after.
• All for Nothing: In both the third and fourth films, Gale surrenders to Roman and Jill when they have Dewey incapacitated and at their mercy to prevent either of them from murdering him, only for Dewey to die years later by another Ghostface in the fifth film.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: A dark-haired woman and sort of an Ice Queen.
• Amicable Exes: With Dewey in the fifth film. They have not talked for years ever since he decided to move back to Woodsboro, leaving Gale to pursue her career in New York, but the two still share a warm reunion upon meeting again.
• And Starring: As one of the legacy survivors, she gets this billing in both the fifth and sixth films.
• Anti-Hero: Gale eventually becomes a loyal friend to Sidney and has saved the day more than once, but she's also a cutthroat journalist with questionable ethics and a borderline addiction to fame, qualities that cause her no end of problems in her personal life and make her difficult to like even for those closest to her.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • To Amber Freeman, the Ghostface who killed Dewey in the fifth film. Amber also tries to kill her and mocks Dewey's death in front of her, and Gale tries to burn Amber in an unsuccessful attempt to end her life. No other Ghostface has left a lasting impact as the one that caused Dewey's absence from Gale's life.
  • On a lighter note, during the third movie Gale has a very humorous rivalry with Jennifer Jolie, the eccentric actress who plays her in the Stab movies, as she despises not only Jolie's portrayal of her but also her clear romantic intentions with Dewey and her equally abrasive personality. As the movie goes on they learn to somewhat tolerate each other and even seem to bond when they begin to investigate the case and Gale is genuinely horrified when she's killed by Roman.
• Asshole Victim: Gale downplays and subverts the traditional use of this trope in horror movies. In the first film, she's a cutthroat fame-chasing prick lacking in any real redeeming qualities outside of being a genuinely competent investigator, an unlikable character archetype that is meant to be killed in horror movies. She not only survives but undergoes character development, becoming a staple in the franchise. Sidney does deck her a couple of times though.
• The Atoner: After Randy is killed, Gale admits to Dewey that she feels really bad (a rarity for her) and resolves to catch the killer solely to stop the murders.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: In Scream 4, after Dewey tells her about Jill wanting to write a book with her and making a remark about their matching scars, Gale asks how she knew where her scar was located and this gets Dewey to realize Jill was her attacker.
• Battle Couple: While married, Gale and Dewey work together (after some initial tension) against the Ghostfaces in the fourth film, with both contributing to Jill's last effort to kill Sidney failing.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: In both Scream 2 and Scream 3, Gale and Dewey meet again on bad terms, with much snarking and insults being volleyed back and forth, but their attraction to one another remains very evident, and they end both movies by getting back together.
• Berserk Button: Threatening or insulting Dewey or her career, as demonstrated when she threatens Rebecca Walters in 4. As of the fifth movie any mention of Dewey's death by the killers is likely to reveal the more dangerous side of Gale. This is best seen both times where Amber tries to gloat about killing him, on both occasions Gale wastes no time taking a swing at her, the second time pushing Amber towards the stove.
• Big Damn Heroes: A downplayed example but Gale showing up to take the gun while Billy and Stu qualifies, even if it doesn't work out exactly as she planned. Even with it failing, it still gave Sidney an opportunity to turn the tides on them.
• Big Damn Reunion:
  • In Scream 2, after getting punched by Sidney for ambushing her with an interview with Cotton, she stops in place when she notices Dewey standing close by and is visibly surprised to see him, following him around as he chastises her both for messing with Sidney and her description of him in her book.
  • In the fifth film, following Dewey's death, Gale and Sidney share a long hug that sees the two express condolences and concern for each other.
• Big Good: Gale becomes this in the sequels, particularly the third, fifth, and sixth films. In the third film, although having insulted her earlier, Jennifer values her knowledge of Ghostface enough to stick with her as a means of not getting killed. Although Sam doesn't hold her in any high regard, Sidney teams up with her to get Ghostface out of revenge for Dewey's death and the two come to the closest of anyone to killing Richie and Amber until Sam and Tara do. By the sixth film, as the only member of the original trio featured, she has the most experience of any of its protagonists and can fend off Ghostface by herself.
• Big "SHUT UP!": Gale and Dewey deliver one to Jennifer in Scream 3 as the latter calls for them to follow Milton and adds that her version of Gale would be more aggressive and suspect everybody.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: She borrows Sidney's in the fifth film, telling the killer "Fuck you!" before taking them out.
• Brainy Brunette: A dark-haired, intelligent, clever, and driven woman.
• Break the Haughty: At the start of Scream 2, Gale is still the same fame-seeking, moral-lacking journalist seeking to get attention for herself. She also wrote a book that did not describe Dewey in the best light. After Randy is killed by Ghostface, Gale confesses to Dewey that she feels really bad, even admitting she never feels bad about anything, and even apologizes to him for her earlier descriptions of him in her book. By the end of the film, Gale abandons chasing another headline to chase after the injured Dewey and accompany him to the hospital.
• Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: She and Dewey share a kiss at the end of the first film, but are not together in the second, thanks to Dewey's disgust at Gale using the killings as an excuse to advance her career. After they reconcile, they start dating but are broken up again by Scream 3 because Gale has not changed her ways. When she promises to do so, Dewey proposes to her. In Scream 4, they have been married for a decade, but their relationship is strained because of Gale's frustrations with being forced to become a Housewife in Woodsboro. While their experiences with the fourth Ghostface terror are implied to reconcile them, the fifth film reveals that they divorced a couple of years after the events of Scream 4, but are thankfully on good terms and are happy to reunite.
• Brutal Honesty: She can be pretty rude and insensitive even on a good day.
• Cartwright Curse: Both her ex-husband (in 5) and boyfriend (in VI) die at the hands of Ghostface.
• Cassandra Truth: Before Billy and Stu were exposed as the killers, Gale was the only one who believed Cotton Weary was innocent.
• Celebrity Paradox: The second movie mentions two of Courteney Cox's Friends co-stars: Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer (who played Dewey in the first two films of the fictional Stab franchise).
• Combination Attack:
  • In Scream 2, Gale and Sidney both shoot at Mickey when he springs up to reveal he's still alive.
  • A lesser example in Scream 4, but Gale provides the distraction for Sidney to electrocute Jill.
  • In the fifth film, Sidney and Gale take turns between harming Amber and restraining her so the other can land a hit.
• Conflict Ball: As detailed under Aesop Amnesia, Gale nonstop irritates and alienates everyone around her with her fame-seeking nature. She then repeatedly learns (and then ignores) not to do that.
• Contralto of Strength: Downplayed. She is frequently presented as an anti-hero figure — not a bad person at her core, but abrasive, fame-hungry, and selfish. The other heroic characters, like Sidney, Sam, and Tara, even punch her in the face. She also has a noticeably lower, smokier voice than the main protagonist Sidney's and later, Sam's.
• Creative Sterility: In Scream 4, Gale attempts a fiction writing career after decades of writing true crime books, only to find she has absolutely no idea what to write about. As it turns out, Gale uses much of her creativity writing books about real-life murder sprees.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: While it doesn't kill Amber, Gale completely intended to burn her to death as revenge for killing Dewey.
• Damsel in Distress:
  • After mistaking Cotton as the killer in Scream 2, Gale runs into Mrs. Loomis (the actual killer) and is held at gunpoint by her when she takes her to Sidney's location.
  • After all of the Stab 3 cast members are murdered, and Dewey is knocked unconscious by Ghostface in Scream 3, Gale and Dewey are used as bait by Ghostface to lure Sidney to Milton's home.
  • She is held at gunpoint by Jill in the final battle of Scream 4, though unlike her previous Ghostface experience, she actually manages to turn the tables on Jill by stalling her until Sidney can shock her.
• Deadpan Snarker: Gale is quite snarky when push comes to shove. Most of her interactions with Jennifer Jolie in the third film, for example, are good examples of her snark at work.
• Defiant to the End: Narrowly averted in VI, where the killer stabs Gale with a glass shard and then attempts to stab her in the face. Gale's last words would have been a defiant, "Fuck you!", but luckily Sam and Tara arrive to stop the killer from finishing the job.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Her Character Development over the course of the series.
• Determinator: In her career, she always gets her story through any means necessary. In terms of survival, she will use her wits and strengths in order to survive. This results in Gale being the only six-time Ghostface survivor in the series.
• Deuteragonist: She isn't as important as Sidney, but she plays a major role, particularly in the sequels, where she gets more screentime and significant character development. She's also the only character besides Ghostface himself to appear in every installment of the franchise.
• Did You Think I Can't Feel?: Gale is generally able to emotionally disconnect to do her job. However, when Tara and Sam bring up Dewey while mad at her, Gale stops in her tracks.
• Didn't See That Coming: In Scream 4, she installs cameras at a party to catch Ghostface lurking around, and expects to sit in her car as they capture footage of the killer. Instead, she watches as her cameras begin getting covered one-by-one by an off-screen Ghostface.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: In every film, Gale plays some role in defeating Ghostface and lives to see another day.
• Enemy Mine: A rare heroic example, as she teams up with Sidney to stop both Billy and Stu.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • In Scream 2, a reporter insinuates that Dewey is responsible for the new Ghostface killings. Gale, clearly outraged that anyone could even make such a claim, says that Dewey is a good guy "unlike some of us".
  • After Randy's murder in the second film, Gale's motives shift from reporting on the killings to making sure they stop.
• Final Girl: Played with. Gale is not only an unexpected additional final girl, but her bossy and ruthless attitude, as well as her shamelessness in seducing Dewey to get information, make her an antithesis to everything that a traditional final girl stands for.
• Fire-Forged Friends:
  • She and Sidney initially have a very, very rocky relationship. This changes over the course of the films.
  • She initially despises Jennifer but begins to bond with her after they begin investigating the Stab 3 murders.
• Foil:
  • To Dewey Riley. Both are young adults several years older than the teenage characters who want to see the murderer caught and are nominally on the side of good. Dewey wants the killer stopped solely to prevent innocent lives from being lost while Gale mostly wants the killer caught to get the scoop over other reporters and increase her celebrity status. While Dewey both personally wants to and professionally is trying to protect Sidney and has been on good terms with the latter prior to the start of the film, Gale personally is neutral to and professionally antagonistic to Sidney and was disparaging of the latter before the start of the film.
  • To the fourth film's Ghostface, Jill Roberts; Jill, like Gale, seeks fame and is willing to cross moral and ethical boundaries to get it, even at the expense of others. However, while Jill is a cold-blooded sociopath who is willing to lie and murder to get the fame she craves, Gale, for all her faults, is no killer, and even at her worst, she's generally honest (if insensitive) and cares about others, unlike Jill, who scoffs at the notion of having friends and would rather have fans.
• Genre Savvy: Progressively grows into this as the series progresses.
• Glory Seeker: Gale's desire for fame and fortune is a major driving force in her life, and she's unafraid to step on some toes to get them. This quality is both a boon and a detriment in Gale's life; while it fuels her boundless determination, it also pushes her to make ethically questionable decisions that alienate her loved ones and causes her to repeat her mistakes that have already cost her dearly.
• Good Cop/Bad Cop: Gale repeatedly forms this dynamic with other characters with her always playing the role of bad cop. Her good cop partners have included Dewey, Sidney, and Jennifer.
• Good Is Not Nice: Despite her abrasive personality, she's one of the good guys.
• Good Is Not Soft: Put a gun in her hand, and she'll take Ghostface down in a heartbeat. The killers from the first two movies find that out the hard way.
• Heel Realization: After Randy is killed in Scream 2, Gale realizes that she let a desire for fame and fortune get the better of her, and she becomes much more serious about wanting to put a stop to Ghostface because it's the right thing to do, not because she hopes to get rich and famous.
• Heroic Second Wind: In the original, after she fails to shoot Billy and he knocks her out, she regains consciousness just in time to shoot him as he's about to stab Sidney.
• Holding the Floor: As Jill points a gun at her, Gale requests that she get a final word and stalls her long enough for Sidney to get a defibrillator ready to electrocute her.
• Honorary True Companion: Despite some rough patches in her relationship with them, especially Sam, the Core Four accept Gale as a fellow survivor and a part of "the same fucked up family" (as fellow survivor Kirby puts it).
• Housewife: In Scream 4, it is revealed that after Gale married Dewey, she quit journalism to move in with him to Woodsboro. She could not settle in as a writer with no news to report, however, and became stuck as a housewife as a result.
• If It Bleeds, It Leads: At first, she's hot on the trail of any tragedy so she can milk it for ratings. She gets better. By the fifth film, she's come to regret writing about the Woodsboro murders, feeling the consequences weren't worth the money she got in return.
• Ignored Expert: She believes herself to be this in Scream 4, as despite helping to solve the Ghostface murders three times by this point, she still was not sought for counsel or aid in the investigation.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Seems to feel this way regarding the death of Dewey, even blaming herself for all the killing sprees that have ever happened.
• Immoral Journalist: Downplayed; Gale doesn't do anything strictly illegal, but her methods include surveilling and harassing teenagers, ambush journalism, exploiting the trauma of her fellow survivors, and sensationalizing the various Ghostface murder sprees for the sake of fortune and fame, all with little regard for the privacy or mental health of others. Is it any wonder why she gets sucker-punched on three separate occasions?
• Improbable Weapon User: In the sixth film, Gale uses a frying pan, several flower pots, a barbecue grill, a glass table, and a phone receiver to not only dodge Ghostface’s attacks but to find Ghostface herself.
• Intergenerational Friendship:
  • Gale tries to invoke this with Charlie and Robbie as the three work together to get clues on the new killer in Scream 4, but she becomes dissatisfied with the pair having more interest in Sidney than her and keeping the location of their party secret.
  • Seems to have developed this with the other Woodsboro survivors, partly due to shared experience.
• Intrepid Reporter: In the first movie, she goes to great lengths to get a good story. In fact, she has been called a "Lois Lane".
• It's All About Me: Gale's biggest flaw is her persistent desire for fame; in the first film, despite trying to get Cotton Weary off death row, she's mostly interested in getting famous. While she does get better in subsequent films, she never quite loses a bit of self-absorption, and it costs her a lot of goodwill with her friends and allies; she keeps writing books on the Ghostface killings even after the subsequent film adaptations inspire copycats, and even after the fifth film, where she intended to deny the killers' desire for fame by writing about Dewey instead, she eventually gave in to temptation and wrote a book about the killings anyway, damaging her friendship with the Carpenter sisters. Gale isn't a bad person, but she does have a bad habit of falling back into old, selfish patterns no matter how many times she comes off worse for it.
• It's All My Fault: By the time of the fifth movie, she's come to blame herself for the repeated Ghostface killings, feeling that if she hadn't written about the tragedies in Woodsboro, they never would've become famous enough to get copycats. Sidney disagrees, laying the blame at the feet of the killers and no one else. Even so, at the end of the movie, Gale makes a conscious choice to not write about Amber and Richie, denying them any fame or legacy in death. Instead, she decides to write about Dewey. This sadly becomes an Ignored Epiphany by the time of the sixth movie, though she still does hold a level of guilt for profiting off the murders and is clearly bothered when Ghostface calls her out for it.
• It's Personal with the Dragon: Amber, the fifth film's accomplice Ghostface, is the one who murdered Dewey, earning Gale's very personal hatred. Sidney even intends to give Gale "the honors" of killing Amber, even if it ends up being Tara who finishes her off (though not for lack of trying on Gale's part).
• Jerkass Ball: Downplayed in the sixth film, where it is revealed that Gale wrote a book about the requel murders, for which she is called out on by the Carpenter sisters. However, Gale remains involved in the investigation, is visibly affected by Tara’s assessment of her, and does have a nice heart-to-heart with Sam later in the film.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • Even when she's at her worst in the first Scream, she's still ultimately right that Cotton Weary was innocent.
  • Her less-than-flattering portrayal of Dewey in her book isn't particularly inaccurate.
  • Gale's frustrations at Dewey not allowing her to help with the investigation in the fourth film are also completely justified. Not only has she been a major factor in the resolution of the past three killing sprees, she's also a very likely target.
  • Her description of Sam as being unstable also isn't exactly inaccurate, even if it only worsens Sam's already tainted reputation.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's rather insensitive towards Sidney in the first movie, but gets better in the sequels. She also ditched Dewey between Scream and Scream 2, but is shown to regret it.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: In the first film. Most notably highlighted when she explains her motive to prove Cotton Weary's innocence: largely to get good publicity and sell her book. She's right that Cotton's innocent, but that doesn't make her agenda any less self-serving.
  Gale: If I'm right about this, I could save a man's life. Do you know what that could do for my book sales?
• Jumped at the Call: She loves mysteries, and is ecstatic to uncover the identities of whichever new Ghostfaces crop up, unlike Dewey and Sidney. That is, until the fifth film sees her estranged husband fall victim to the newest incarnation of Ghostface.
• Just in Time:
  • Billy has Sidney pinned to the ground and is just about to bring the knife down when Gale suddenly appears and shoots him.
  • A downplayed example but she shows up just in time to distract Jill from killing Sidney in the fourth movie.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Gale often comes into the crosshairs of Ghostface and complies with the killer as to ensure her own safety, someone else's, or as part of a plan that can possibly save her. In Scream 2, Mrs. Loomis begins holding her at gunpoint after she incorrectly assumes Cotton is the killer, and Gale goes along with this until after both she and her accomplice Mickey are defeated by Sidney and Cotton. In 3, after Dewey is subdued by Roman and she comes to his aid, Gale surrenders to the killer and allows herself to be tied up, clearly also out of concern for Dewey. In 4, she goes along with Jill's order for her to stand up as the latter holds a gun, although in this case it was to give Sidney enough time to give Jill a Sneak Attack.
• Lady in Red: Downplayed Gale wears plenty of colors, however she spends the climax of the original film in a red outfit which contrasts with fellow, more traditional, Final Girl Sidney who is in blue.
• Lying to Protect Your Feelings: In Scream VI, after she has been stabbed to the brink of death by Ghostface, after being saved by the Carpenters, believing it might be her final words before passing out from blood loss, "Tell Sidney, he didn't get me..." so Sidney doesn't have to mourn yet another friend killed by Ghostface. Thankfully she ends up surviving her wounds.
• Made of Iron: Over the course of the series, Gale has survived several concussions and gunshot wounds, as well as a van crash and multiple stab wounds. Cotton lampshades this in the second movie by saying Gale has "more lives than a cat."
• Manipulative Bitch: She was prone in the earlier movies to twisting the facts and misleading people to suit her own needs.
• Mean Boss: Is quite mean towards Kenny and Joel, who don't appreciate her attitude towards them.
• Misery Trigger: Mentioning Dewey's death is enough to almost reduce her to tears while on the phone with Ghostface in the sixth film.
• Mistaken for Murderer: After Mickey introduces Sidney to his accomplice, Gale first walks out, and this momentarily leads Sidney to believe he's talking about her before Nancy Loomis (Mickey's actual accomplice) comes behind her.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: Come the fifth movie both Gale and Sidney immediately jump to this, having lived through enough Ghostface attacks to know that the killers never stop until they're dead.
• My Greatest Failure: Dewey's death is this, by the time of Scream VI. During her fight with the Carpenter sisters, Sam invokes Dewey when calling her out on how she handled the media attention of the last Woodsboro attacks. The killer also uses this wound against her when he attacks her later in the movie, citing her inability to help him or comfort him in his last moments.
• Mysterious Past: Unlike Sidney or the Carpenter sisters, very little is known about Gale's past outside of her having shitty parents.

N-Z

• Never Got to Say Goodbye: To Dewey, her last interaction with him is an argument the two have that ends with Gale telling him that he's many things, but not a coward. She arrives at the hospital seeing Dewey being rolled out on a stretcher once again, but this time he's dead.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • If Gale hadn't written books on the Ghostface killings, the killers would have died in obscurity and the Ghostface identity would have been forgotten after the first movie. Thanks to Gale, Billy and Stu continued inspiring new killers decades after their deaths, with several Ghostfaces explicitly out to attain the same level of fame that Billy and Stu got because of Gale's sensationalist journalism. On the same note, by making Sidney famous through her reporting, Gale inadvertently incites Roman and Jill, both of whom crave Sidney's level of notoriety, to embark on their own spree of Ghostface killings.
  • Describing Sam as "unstable" in her book about Richie and Amber's killings just made it easier for the next Ghostfaces, Detective Bailey and his children, to sully Sam's reputation.
• No Sympathy: She acted this way to Sidney (who had just lost her mother) in the year leading up to the original film, as she did multiple stories about her that included calling her a liar during the trial that saw Cotton Weary convicted for Maureen's murder.
• Non-Protagonist Resolver: Tries to be this in the first movie, and would've been had she not left the safety on. That being said, when Gale regains the gun (and takes off the safety), she does shoot Billy when he tries to stab Sidney. This allows Sidney to gain the upper hand again and finish him off for good.
• Not Too Dead to Save the Day: Seemingly dies when she crashes her van only to suddenly show up and take the gun while Billy and Stu are distracted. She pulls this a second time when she gets back up and shoots Billy properly.
• Not Quite Dead:
  • In Scream 2, Mickey's gun goes off after he is shot by Mrs. Loomis and a bullet strikes Gale in the stomach before she falls. She is only revealed to have survived the injury with little severity after Cotton and Sidney have defeated Mrs. Loomis.
  • In Scream VI, Gale seemingly succumbs to her wounds while Sam and Tara watch, but once the paramedics arrive, they find a weak pulse, and Danny later confirms that Gale is recovering in the hospital.
• Official Couple: With Dewey at the end of the third film.
• Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: Gale is older than every Ghostface except Nancy Loomis and Wayne Bailey, the latter of whom is about the same age.
• The One That Got Away: After their divorce between the fourth and fifth films, Dewey still clearly loves and pines after Gale, though his death puts an end to any hopes of their romance rekindling. Gale's somber response to Tara bringing Dewey up in Scream VI strongly implies that her regrets about losing him run just as deep.
• Only a Flesh Wound: In the second movie, Gale gets shot and seemingly killed by Mickey prior to the final fight with Mrs. Loomis. After Mrs. Loomis has been taken care of, Gale suddenly emerges and reveals that the bullet only bounced off her ribs.
• Opposites Attract: The assertive, fame-seeking Gale is drawn to the passive, down-to-earth Dewey.
• Out of Focus: In the post-Wes Craven Scream films, Gale tends to not have as much screentime, having one scene with Dewey before the latter's death in the fifth film, and playing a role in the movie's climax, and then having three lengthy scenes in the sixth film.
• Pet the Dog: Prior to Character Development, her interactions with Dewey show she's not all bad, even if she doesn't exactly write a flattering portrayal of him in her book.
• Pitbull Dates Puppy: The Pitbull in her relationship with Dewey.
• Plucky Girl: Gale is willing to risk danger to herself for her ambitions, and is confident about things working out for her.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: In the first film, she body shames Kenny by taking a number of shots at his weight, and in the sixth film, it's mentioned that when she wrote a book about the events of the fifth film, she described Sam, who struggles with mental illness, as "unstable".
• Punny Name: Though it's quite subtle.
  Gale (to Dewey): Gale Weathers, right? Makes me sound like a meteorologist or something.
• Relationship Revolving Door: With Dewey. She shares flirtation and a kiss with him in the first film. They date in between the second and third movies, though have broken up by the start of Scream 3. Dewey proposes to Gale at the end of that movie, and the two are married at the start of the fourth (though clearly on shaky ground). By the fifth, they have divorced and sadly never get the chance to reconcile their relationship, as Dewey is killed before they can truly make up.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: In the fifth film, after Dewey is killed, Gale is understandably determined to kill the new Ghostface, as It's Personal now for her. When they manage to corner Amber, Sidney gives Gale the chance to finish her off by burning her alive.
• Running Gag: Her getting punched in the face by people (usually Sidney) that she pisses off. In the third film, this is turned on its head when she punches Jennifer, the actress playing her in Stab 3. In the fourth film, she threatens to punch Rebecca when he nags at her. In the fifth film, Gale punches out Amber when the latter gloats over her murder of Dewey. The sixth film has Gale, now Genre Savvy, managing to dodge a punch by Sam, only to get socked in the jaw by Tara.
• Self-Deprecation: Gale herself has recognized how cutthroat she is a few times. In a particularly memorable moment in Scream 2, she stops a reporter from pestering Dewey, saying that he is a good man unlike "some of us."
• The Smart Girl: She's an incredibly intelligent investigator who provides a role as the de facto detective of the series. She also has exceptionally good intuition. Chances are, if Gale has a hunch about something, she's right.
  Ghostface: It was always all about poor, sweet Sidney sucking up all the oxygen. What did that leave you to be?
  Gale: The brains and the sex appeal.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Gale's philosophy of journalism, as she spells out in the third film, is that one has to be willing to be hated in order to get the story and the fame, but this attitude is repeatedly shown costing Gale in her on-again, off-again relationship with Dewey and damaging her friendships with other survivors, something that Gale often privately shows regret for, even if she never quite stops letting it happen. In Scream 3, Dewey describes Gale as "a lost and lonely little girl" deep down, a remark that Gale objects to just a little too strongly.
• Spanner in the Works:
  • In the first film, had Stu made sure Gale was dead when she crashed the news van, his and Billy's plan probably would've went off without a hitch.
  • In the fourth film, Gale arrives in Sidney's ICU room and is able to distract Jill long enough for Sidney to sneak up and knock her out via defibrillator.
  • In Scream VI, Bailey mentions that he always planned on revealing the shrine to Sam at some point so he could trap her there. However, he was surprised by how good a journalist Gale was, and that she was able to discover its existence completely on her own. Downplayed example as he seems genuinely impressed, rather than annoyed.
• Stunned Silence: The reaction she and Jennifer have when finding out from Angelina that she slept with Milton to get a role in Stab 3.
• Suddenly Shouting: To her cameraman in the first film.
  Gale: Look, Kenny, I know you're about fifty pounds overweight, but when I say hurry, please interpret that as MOVE YOUR FAT TUB OF LARD ASS, NOW!
• Suggestive Collision: In the original film, Gale and Dewey are narrowly run over and end up falling to the ground in a position where Dewey is on top of Gale. It doesn't take long after for the duo to share their first kiss.
• Survivor Guilt: By the fifth film she tries to blame herself for all the killing sprees.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Gale tends to attract this dynamic everywhere she goes.
  • This is her initial dynamic with Dewey when they team up to stop the killers in Scream 2 and Scream 3. In the former film, it's due to her writing a book where she described him in a non-flattering way, and in the latter film, their strained interactions are due to their off-screen break-up.
  • She also has this with Jennifer in Scream 3, having previously assaulted the latter but teaming up with her nonetheless when Jennifer decides to stick with her and proves useful in gathering information.
  • With Judy Hicks in 4. They can barely stand to be in the same room as each other, and the fact that Judy has an obvious crush on Dewey doesn't help either.
  • With Kirby in VI. Gale makes it clear she doesn't respect Kirby as an FBI agent, viewing her as a "child" due to her memories of her from when they lived in Woodsboro. Downplayed with the Carpenter sisters, as they get along fine after an initially frosty first reunion.
• Third Party Stops Attack: In the original where she shoots Billy as he's about to stab Sidney
• Took a Level in Badass: While Gale has always been an Action Girl in the Craven films, the Radio Silence movies give her more direct confrontations with Ghostface. In VI, she almost kills the much younger Quinn (who just killed her larger, muscular boyfriend) by herself.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Downplayed in the sixth film. She breaks her promises to Sam and shows some inconsideration to her.
• Took a Level in Kindness: She was a major bitch in the first film, but slowly warms up to others as the series continues.
• True Companions: With Sidney and Dewey. Even when she and the latter are no longer romantically involved, she still holds his well-being in high regard.
• Tsundere: Type A. Gale is initially portrayed as a Jerkass Intrepid Reporter who steps over people’s boundaries and emotions in order to get a good story. Gradually, she shows that she does have a Hidden Heart of Gold, revealing that she does have standards when it comes to journalism and concerns about the people she loves (or even barely tolerates) when they become targeted by the killer. While her ambition is still an important aspect of her character, Gale shows time and time again that taking down Ghostface is her main priority.
• The Unfought: She is this to Richie in the fifth film (given that she only plays a role in fighting and defeating Amber), and Bailey and Ethan in VI (ironically, the only killer she encounters in-costume without ever meeting them in person is Quinn).
• Unlikely Hero: In the original film, Gale is a fame-seeking reporter only attending the Macher house party to catch the killer as a means of raising her profile, which makes her integral role in stopping Billy and Stu all the more surprising.
• Unreliable Narrator: Given Gale's reputation as a sensationalist news reporter, her publications are very often accused of this.
  • Before the events of the first film, she wrote news stories that vouched for the innocence of Cotton Weary and accused Sidney of falsely identifying her mother's killer. Gale doesn't genuinely believe in Cotton's innocence; instead, Gale felt that saving Cotton's life would make for a great story, which would in turn earn her greater publicity and profit. It is later revealed that she is Right for the Wrong Reasons.
  • Before the events of the second film, she writes a book about the Woodsboro murders and gets many details wrong, at least if one takes into account the Stab movie, which is based on her book. At one point, she admits to Joel that she exaggerated the death of Kenny in her book.
  • The sixth film reveals that she wrote a book about the requel murders in Woodsboro, where she apparently described Sam as "unstable".
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • Gale was really chasing fame when she wrote about the Woodsboro murders. She didn't know she’d be creating a legacy of copycat killers, and deeply regrets the consequences.
  • In the fifth film, had she not called Dewey at what turned out to be the worst possible time, Dewey would've ended Ghostface's killing spree right then and there. Instead, Dewey was distracted just long enough for Ghostface to lunge and end him right then and there. In the following film, the killer taunts her with this knowledge, which visibly affects the otherwise steely Gale.
• Villain Killer: She helps Sidney kill Mickey in Scream 2. In the fifth film, she is given the "honor" of shooting Amber as revenge for her murder of Dewey, though Tara is ultimately the one to shoot her dead.
• Will Not Be a Victim: After Ghostface stabs her with a glass shard in VI, Gale's last words to Sam before passing into unconsciousness are to let Sidney know "he never got me". While this can be seen as Gale not wanting Sidney to risk her life trying to avenge yet another fallen friend, it can alternately be seen as Gale wanting Sidney to know she went out fighting and didn't die a helpless victim. Fortunately, Gale survives.
• Writer's Block: In Scream 4, years of living as a housewife have sapped away her creativity, as she finds herself unable to write any good material. Her decision to go undercover to investigate Ghostface's identity is partly so she can gain her journalistic spirit back.

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"You know you're like the tenth guy to try this, right? It never works out for the dipshit in the mask."