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Pre-Release Theories
The new Ghostface is a group.
- And I don’t mean the usual case of 2 killers at once, but dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of people across New York City. It would help explain how they show up at exactly the right time and place in such a large and crowded location.
- Not quite. Costumed Ghostfaces are still two, but there's a third helping them.
Tara will be the first to die.
- Given the boost Jenna Ortega has gotten recently with X and Wednesday, it would certainly fit with the tradition of Dead Star Walking. Perhaps the teaser is actually the cold open, with the attack on Mindy creating a panic that leads to Tara getting separated from the others and killed.
- Jossed, she survives. However, Mindy is the one who gets separated from the others and subsequently gets stabbed and wounded by the killer.
The Ghostface killers will be doing it For the Evulz
- It will be revealed in the end that the Ghostface killers will be nothing but thrill killers, who are doing it to become infamous in New York and not because of some underlying motive that has to do with Sidney, Woodsboro, or Samantha's father, Billy Loomis. There might even be a 4Chan or Reddit like website where they discuss their plans that later gets discovered by the cast.
- This isn't new for the Scream movies. Richie and Amber from 5 met online, as did Mickey and Mrs Loomis in 2. Mickey's motive was also to become an infamous Serial Killer and had nothing but Mrs Loomis's backing that brought him to Windsor.
- Jossed. It's a scheme to ultimately avenge Richie.
Ghostface will indulge in some Cold-Blooded Torture.
- The movie has been described as having the most aggressive and brutal Ghostface, so they might just be being brutal while keeping some or one of their victims alive. Of course, this will result in Ghostface letting someone live longer than they should, which results in their downfall.
- Jossed. Ghostface gets a lot of stabs in this movie, but doesn't indulge in torture. Even what could be considered as torture (such as Anika being tipped off the ladder between the buildings), is largely accidental on Ghostface's part as they were trying to kill Anika beforehand.
There'll be another cameo from a prominent horror internet icon.
- While it's unlikely Dead Meat will return, there can be another cameo from famous horror fans. They could even bring in horror game YouTubers (e.g. Dawko) for a Stab video game.
The new Ghostface is using an old Ghostface costume.
- Not only is the mask looking more weathered, but some promo pics seem to show bullet holes, suggesting a fan even more obsessive then Richie and Amber.
- Confirmed, the killers have retrieved the costumes and all sorts of items of the other ten Ghostfaces, hence the masks being weathered.
Whether it'd be Sam or Tara who unfortunate enough to die, their death scene will deliberately try to be the biggest Tear Jerker in Scream's history.
- No guarantee either of them will kick the bucket of course (even if they do, I'd imagine it would be at the end of their run instead of the film just after their debut), but with Scream, nothing can be ruled out. We're talking two major characters here though, so I imagine the directors wouldn't pull any punches with a possible death scene. Maybe just one final "I love you.." before the lights leave their eyes, or the opposite happens and the living sister breaks down because they Never Got to Say Goodbye.
- Jossed, both survive.
This Ghostface is a Small Name, Big Ego Attention Whore.
- The trailer has Ghostface boasting about how he's a 'different' Ghostface, propping himself up as the most imposing one. Maybe the person under the mask thinks they're above the previous ones, and will do anything to be feared/respected. Of course, when they're unmasked, they'll be given "The Reason You Suck" Speech, and their ensuing Villainous Breakdown will show just how pathetic they really are, especially in comparison to the other killers.
- Jossed, it's Ritchie's family trying to avenge him.
The new Ghostface is obsessed with true crime.
- The trailer features a shrine, not just of Stab memorabilia, but of the various killers and their victims. Tatum Riley's iconic final outfit, Stu's robe, the prop Derek was killed on, even the costumes themselves sans the masks. It also seems to have detailed information on various crime scenes, such as a sketch of Kirby after she was stabbed by Charlie, as well as the mask Sidney wore during her rehearsal for the play she had been cast in during Scream 2. This killer, if it is their shrine, spared nothing in their attention to detail. Horror has started to evolve alongside true crime documentaries, docuseries, and even full-on shows in the last few years. What's more terrifying than a person obsessed with the reality behind all of the tragedies having access to no less than six previous survivors and everyone around them? A person who studied up.
- Jossed, it's the one who they're avenging who was the obsessed one (after all, Ritchie was such a Loony Fan of Stab he started killing people trying to inspire a new movie). Though True Crime is criticized a lot, but not through the Ghostfaces, but because of fans of Richie.
Guesses for the new Ghostface
I feel like it'd be easier to just put a master thread for guesses on who the new Ghostface is rather than taking up spots for individual guesses. On that note...- Obligatory Dewey is secretly the killer guess. Yes I know he died in the last one but that didn't stop Kirby from coming back from what was supposed to be a fatal stabbing. Speaking of.
- Jossed.
- Kirby
- Jossed, though Detective Bailey tries to make it look that way.
- Sam in a kind of Tyler Durden split-personality way. There is a shot in the main trailer where she looks quite creepy.
- Jossed.
- Speaking of which, Tara. Perhaps, unlike all other killers before her, Tara is driven crazy by previous attacks on her, becoming a Fallen Hero.
- Jossed.
- Mindy. She guessed she'd die in any "inevitable" 6 sequel because of her connection to Randy, who died in 2, so she became Ghostface instead.
- Jossed.
- Stu Macher. It’s an incredibly common theory for him to return in this movie, and Matthew Lillard himself said he wants to return for it. Plus, in the Dead Meat cameo in Scream 2022, a conspiracy video about him still being alive in real life is in the recommended.
- Jossed, though the theory that Stu is still alive is briefly referenced.
- A new character who turns out to be a Dirty Cop trying to "fix" New York, "Blacks and Mexicans are ticking crime bombs, the stats say so." "Kirby got hired after standards were lowered, she's dragging the NYPD down" etc., with their partner turning out to be an otherwise normal criminal (drugs, robbery, etc.) being forced to help out to avoid arrest unaware that they're being set up to take all the blame.
- While Ghostface isn't a cop, their father who is in on the scheme is!
Guesses for who dies.
Similar to the above. Easier to set up a master thread for this. Post below who you think is gonna bite it.- Devon Nekoda's character, Anika. A shot the in the Big-Game spot shows her and Mindy in an apartment the others have established a bridge to with a ladder. As Mindy crosses the bridge, Ghostface pops up behind her, Anika nowhere to be seen. You do the math.
- Confirmed, although in a slightly different way.
- Laura, Samara Weaving's character. The released still of Laura shows her in an alley answering her phone, perhaps setting up an opening kill with an actress horror fans know quite well.
- Confirmed, though the “real” Ghostface didn’t kill her.
This Ghostface is a Collective Identity of a Cult.
- Let's be honest: a group of Ax-Crazy Loony Fans would be one hell of a way to ramp up the stakes. Perhaps they even want to let Sam into their ranks to get one of the killers' children. Bonus points if there's a Black Comedy scene of some of their members get into a Seinfeldian Conversation about which killer was the best like they're talking about movie sequels.
- Jossed, it's The Family That Slays Together.
This Ghostface, to contrast earlier guesses, is...
1) Working alone, like Roman.2) Is actually utilizing Serial Killings, Specific Target. The whole Ghostface thing is a smokescreen: they really want to kill a specific someone who will just seem like a random wrong place, wrong time victim when it first happens.note The trailers have them being ridiculously brazen with the convenience store shotgun scene and the 'corner victim in a packed subway' scene, making a gigantic show of it to make the waters as muddy as possible. The shrine scene is a red herring or just gave the killer the idea: whoever actually owns it will not be involved in the killings at all. In essence, they're using Ghostface as a double mask, which will tie into Sidney not being there for the first time; the returning characters are just there for the sake of the confusion, and this Ghostface only cares about them as pawns for his plan.
- #2 ended up somewhat correct; Sam is the overall target. The rest however, is Jossed.
This killer is obsessed with keeping the 'franchise' going, and the film will comment on gaps between releases of film installments.
- Since the last film already covered 'requels', this film will focus on the long gaps in between horror franchise entries (Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc.). Perhaps this killer is driven For the Evulz, wanting to create as much carnage as possible so the Stab franchise never dies.
- Jossed, it's avenging the one who tried exactly that of keeping Stab going the last time around.
Post-Release Theories
Wayne Bailey was already a dirty cop.
- He got the money to help Richie acquire the Ghostface evidence and build the shrine through years bribery and payoffs.
The Ghostface in the bodega was Wayne Bailey.
- It only seems logical, given the Ghostface's handling of the shotgun and more tactical approach.
Richie made snuff films.
- Based on his characterization in the prior movie and what was learned in this one, he seemed consumed by the Stab franchise, so consumed that he never had time to make proper friends. How hard is it to believe he hired no-name actors to kill them for his "movies"?
- Would be worth noting that this wouldn't exactly be new ground for a Scream film - Jill and Charlie in Scream 4 are revealed to have filmed their kills and uploaded them to the Internet.
”Bailey” is the surname (or maiden name) of the mother of the Kirsch family.
Perhaps Wayne has some fondness over his wife and the mother of his children, so when he needed to disguise his family's connection to Richie, he and Quinn both used her surname while Ethan used a random surname of his own.Kirby's pep talk to Tara was originally going to be given by Sidney before Neve Campbell decided not to come back.
It seems odd that there are three one on one talks in the shrine but Kirby does two. Given that Tara and Kirby's conversation is about moving on from the trauma of being attacked by Ghostface as a teenager, it seems likely that Sidney was originally the one who was supposed to have that conversation with Tara. Jason and Greg knew Richie and Amber from the Stab message boards
Bailey was never really a cop, and was using a stolen or forged identity
Much of the discourse of the movie is how it was possible that Detective Wayne Bailey being the father of Richie Kirsch never came up and how implausible it is he'd be even allowed to work on a Ghostface case in this regard, and that a police detective salary wouldn't cover the cost of the abandoned movie theatre shrine especially without making an obvious and notable dent in his expenses.The easiest explanation for both these issues is that "Wayne Bailey" isn't his real name, something that has been confirmed by the directors and writers, but moreso, that he was never a cop. It's possible that there is, in fact, a police detective named "Wayne Bailey" out there somewhere, but the Bailey we know stole his identity and credentials, possibly even pulling a Kill and Replace, in order to infiltrate the NYPD in order to get his kids close to the Carpenters and be beneath suspicion as he positions himself right into the investigation. It's confirmed he's new to the NYPD, having specifically transferred from out of state, so none of the other officers actually knew him, and identity theft is a pretty common crime that's only usually noticeable in the first place if the real owner of the identity reports it, which again, Kill and Replace fixes that.
As for how they could pull something like that off, that's explainable by the same way they were able to afford the movie theatre, their real identities are very wealthy.
Sequel Theories
If there is a seventh film…
- The next Ghostface will be related to Sam and Tara, much like Roman Bridger was related to Sidney. Guesses are that it’s their dad who abandoned the family after learning about his wife’s affair with Billy, or perhaps another secret child that Billy had that hates the attention Sam has gotten.
- Or it could be Sam and Tara's mother. This film has a line explaining her absence yet again by revealing she cut off Sam and was then cut off by Tara. Perhaps she dons the mantle to drive the two sisters apart and sway Tara to her side?
- Another option would be a loved one of the casualties of the killings in either this movie or the previous one, who resents the "Core Four" for seemingly failing to mourn them. It would be a deconstruction of the Forgotten Fallen Friend trope, by showing what happens when a person watches someone important to them be reduced to a footnote in someone else's story.
- Following up on the above theory, it could be a relative of one of Billy or Nancy's victims wanting revenge by proxy.
- Sam appears headed down a dark path, and while Tara approves of brutally executing serial killers, how long before they start bending the rules and Tara can't handle seeing Sam like this? For the first time in the franchise, a hero could slowly start losing her mind and become the villain, prompting Tara to be the true Final Girl. This is briefly hinted at, during Scream VI.
- In an example of Breaking Old Trends, there could be multiple Ghostfaces who - instead of being a team - are enemies targeting each other, with our main characters simply being caught in the crossfire.
- The next Ghostface's motive could be that he is a Stalker with a Crush on Sam, who not only believes the rumors online about her, but idolizes her because of it, accepting her as a "true killer." His plan is to eliminate all of her friends and sister, leaving Sam isolated and vulnerable to his advances. As well as to "punish" those he feels are unworthy of Sam's affection.
- It’ll comment on and reference Analog Horror and ARGs.
The rumors about Sam will create "vigilante" Ghostfaces
- A bunch of delusional people on reddit will use the Ghostface persona to avenge their fellow redditor Richie. These goofballs with a savior complex will see themselves as the heroes in their own story. They believe Richie was innocent and Sam is the real killer. In their minds, Sam is the villain who must be stopped at all cost. They will see her friends as accomplices to her "crimes" and go after them too.
Ethan is still alive and hauled to jail. Whether as Ghostface again or just a quick cameo, he will appear in Scream 7.
- In the Scream tradition, Ethan was the last Ghostface standing and suddenly got up after seemingly being stabbed in the eye and bleeding out to charge Sam and Tara, only for Kirby to push the same TV that killed Stu Macher onto him and seemingly killing him again. But it widely posited by fans and mentioned in-universe the possibility of Stu surviving the TV having fallen on him; while Stu himself probably won't return at this point, the TV that fell on Ethan could be argued to have even less of a chance of killing him than it did Stu because this time it wasn't powered on/electrocuting him, It may have just knocked him unconscious before being arrested off-screen. (It is possible blood loss his previous injuries could have killed him but many characters like Gale and Chad ultimately survived seemingly fatal wounds in this very film; who says the same can't be true for a Ghostface?)
Ghostface will try to convince Samantha Carpenter We Can Rule Together
- In a massive inverse to the previous two entries of a potential trilogy, Ghostface either does or does not believe that Sam was involved but doesn't care. They just want her to impress her, hoping beyond hope that she'll join their massacre. All Sam wants to do is protect the core four, but now they're part of a legacy that will never die. People will want to kill them or corrupt them for the rest of their lives.
The next film will gather all (or at least most of) the legacy characters still remaining.
- While there will still be new characters abound, we could be in for a fairly large gathering of the legacy cast; between the new "Core Four", Danny, Sidney (assuming the kerfuffle with Neve Campbell is settled), Gale, Kirby, Mark Kincaid and also possibly Joel Martin (finally confirming the twins theorized parentage.)
The next film will focus on parenting-related fears.
- Sam will discover that she's pregnant and will worry about her child inheriting Billy Loomis's (and her own) desire to kill. Meanwhile, Sidney's children get stalked, kidnapped or face some other more direct danger from the next Ghostfaces.
If Stu Macher returns, it will be in the Grand Finale.
- The fact that there's discussion In-Universe about Stu's survival seems like they're leaving the door ever so slightly open. And what better place for him to return that the final movie? If he is alive, he'll actually be a target for Ghostface, but still an antagonist: he wants to kill Sidney, Gale, and Sam, the latter because she's Billy's daughter and he's pissed over constantly being overshadowed by him when everyone brings up Ghostface. By the end, he'll end up killing one of the Ghostfaces before going after the protagonists, only to be Killed Off for Real. Hell, maybe he could get some commentary about how the "final" movie is never the last one.
- Stu: And once I've killed you and the rest of your friends, I'll start planning the sequel! Because let's face it, Sidney: it's never the last one! Ya always gotta have a sequel!!
The next set of killings will be unrelated to the Stab films or previous killers
It could be:- Serial Killings, Specific Target.
- An Inheritance Murder.
- An abuse or assault victim and/or their loved ones taking revenge against their tormentors.
- A cover-up of a murder or another crime.
In Scream VII, Sam will become an convincing red herring.
- The major theme of the Sam and Tara trilogy is that Sam has her father, Billy Loomis', psychopathic tendencies that she is struggling to control. However, the traumatic events she has gone through in both previous films will have her looking like a killer in the possible final film in the trilogy with everyone, including Tara, wondering if she finally snapped. Only for someone of Sam's past to once again reveal themselves as the true killer with a partner. And they will have a Near-Villain Victory.
Sam will become the Big Bad or Villain
She has been taking part of what her father does, she has killed the villains in brutal ways even if a few deserved it.With Scream VII, it could be possible that she may end up becoming a villain either in the middle or in the end.
Ghostfaces will finally be ended once and for all
Ghostfaces has became a villain leagacy ever since Billy and Stu started the Woodsboro Killing Sprees back in 1996, which has been 27 years since it began.If Scream VII is the Grand Finale or so it is, it could be possible that The Ghostfaces or just the costumes may end up being tear down, taken away, or burnt to prevent anyone from being turned into one.
At the end of the franchise, There will be a new villain who will take a new alias instead of Ghostface
Although Ghostface will likely be finished as well as end with them being taken down to prevent others from being turned into one presumably after the events of Scream VII, it could be likely there could be a new or a trio will new names, except they will still be the same instead of it being a legacy name. Scream 7 Will Be the Original Scream 3
Before being changed due to Columbine, Scream 3 would’ve featured dozens of Ghostfaces serving Stu Macher in prison. To dovetail in with the idea of a heroic Ghostface that’s been hinted at through Stab and through Sam’s literally being Ghostface in this film, the next one will appear to be another Scream film but with the twist that Sam and Tara are targeting followers of Stu Macher and killing them before they ever dawn the mask. Mrs. Carpenter will not be the killer, but the motivation for Ghostface
Just as this film's killers were a family avenging the murder of their murderous kin in the same vein as the original series' second film, maybe this series' third film will reveal Mrs. Carpenter has some dark secrets and left some secret relatives for Sam to deal with, like Roman was for Sidney, revealing Maureen Prescott's secrets and other family to her. Ghostface will have universal voice mimicry again now that it's plausible.
AI technology in 2023 is now capable of copying someone's voice convincingly to read scripts with fabricated audio to scam and distress people in deceptive calls as long as the AI has a voice sample to work with, so the derided, implausible universal voice changer from Scream 3 could be reimagined for the third film in the requel trilogy with AI granting Ghostface the ability and serving as a commentary on the power of AI to execute extremely dangerous depections. The process of Ghostface acquiring voice samples can even be turned into a plot point and point of deduction, with the characters figuring out when and how their voices were recorded to be stolen by Ghostface, and causing paranoia about other characters making recordings even when they may not be.- In this case, Roman's use of this will be brought up and actually given an explanation as to how he managed that in the late 90s.
There will be one Ghostface again.
In parallel to the original trilogy, the third film will have a solo killer following in the footsteps of Roman, who was highlighted as the only solo killer in VI. There will be multiple Ghostfaces, but one will be killed and unmasked early.
A Ghostface confrontation will result in the victim winning the fight, putting down Ghostface, and unmasking the killer, leading to a brief grace period of paranoia about whether the spree is over or not, only for the killings to continue with a partner (or multiple conspirators) having to adjust the plan in response to the loss of one killer. A prankster dressed as Ghostface will get themselves arrested or killed in self-defense.
For the former, the prankster could be identified by police as the killer and the case could be closed, even if the Core Four don't think they were a real Ghostface. For the latter, likely Sam would be targeted by an innocent stupid joke and lash out no-holds-barred against the prankster, ending up responsible for a death that hurts her reputation and puts her more in doubt of herself. Martha Meeks will have an expanded role.
As a returning character who never amounted to much previously, VII could be the film to give more time to Martha and give some tension to Chad and Mindy regarding their mom in danger. Martha could be a target or victim of Ghostface or even be (a) Ghostface herself to fulfill the hypothetical plot twist of someone affected by Ghostface becoming Ghostface that was falsely proposed with Kirby in VI. Ghostface will gain a partner over the course of their spree.
We've never seen someone join an active Ghostface before, and the act of a character switching sides would create a good mid-film shakeup where the strongest hypothesis is now undone by the addition of a collaborator who hadn't been involved the whole time. Ghostface will have a point.
It's a trend in the series that Ghostfaces are always warped and firmly discredited as to their motives, but perhaps the series could switch to having a sympathetic (or at least more sympathetic) Ghostface as a mirror to its scary final girl in Sam, with the killer standing for principles the heroes can get behind, if not their execution. Either Sidney or Gale will be killed off
Richie impregnated Sam and she hid her pregnancy and gave birth in secret between films before giving the kid up for adoption to Give Him a Normal Life and keep the kind of upbringing and unwanted attention she got (which would be even worse for a kid with three-six as of this film-Ghostface killers as relatives) from passing on to another generation.
VI will allude to its own Troubled Production or the idea of unsatisfying trilogies through its signature meta-commentary.
Nobody in production has seemed happy with the circumstances that cost them two leads of the film and threw the film into extended upheaval, and the possible meta-commentary on a third requel could easily turn to talk about a trilogy finale that's unsatisfying and a poor conclusion and driven by disjointed creative voices, not only commenting on previous phenomena like the Star Wars sequel trilogy, but also reflecting on itself as a form of Writer Revolt for a movie that had to be made under conditions the creative team didn't want. Perhaps, through this, competing Ghostfaces could be operating, throwing the events and mystery into chaos as multiple killers with conflicting agendas are on the loose. Stu will return, but he will be a Red Herring
He will get released from prison, and faster than you can say "somehow, Palpatine returned", a new Ghostface appears, and their targets are the parents of the victims from the first movie. The Ghostfaces will be revealed to be Casey's parents, who are plotting to frame Stu as revenge for killing their daughter. Even more messed up, their "victims" were in on it as a Suicide Pact, and only resisted Ghostface to put on a show for Sidney.