Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS for Scream (2022) ahead!
While Scream 4 supporting star Deputy Judy Hicks’ return in Scream 2022 was a welcome one, it did open up a plot hole that the franchise never provided an answer to. Thanks to its whodunit structure, the Scream series historically does not feature many recurring characters. The nature of the teen horror franchise ensures that most new characters, no matter how likable they are, will end up dead by the end of their first Scream appearance.
This is part of what made Scream 2022 so refreshing for many fans, as the long-awaited installment did not stick with this rule of thumb entirely. As well as revealing that series star Sidney ended up with Scream 3’s Mark Kincaid, Scream 2022 also brought back Scream 4’s sweet sheriff’s deputy Judy Hicks. However, introducing Judy’s son Wes into the proceedings made the chronology of the Scream series a little confusing.
It’s relatively minor, but Scream 2022 nonetheless seems to have opened up a plot hole when it comes to the events of Scream 4. In that earlier slasher sequel, Judy is Dewey’s deputy, eagerly working the case with him while getting on Gale’s nerves in the process. However, Scream’s 2022 reboot never confirms where Judy’s previously-unseen son Wes was for the events of Scream 4, and the movie becomes a little tricky to place in the Scream franchise timeline as a result. Wes is at least 18 in the events of Scream 2022, which take place ten years after Scream 4. That means Deputy Hicks would have had an eight-year-old at home throughout the slasher sequel, something that seems unlikely.
For one thing, Gale is worried about Deputy Hicks seducing Dewey despite Hicks canonically being a single mom for most of a decade at this stage—or possibly co-parenting Wes with a father who is unmentioned in both movies. Not only that, but Judy volunteers to guard Jill’s house at night in Scream 4 even though there is a masked killer on the loose and she has a small child at home. The Scream sequel’s events still add up in light of Scream 2022’s revelations, but every available explanation seems a touch far-fetched.
For example, it’s possible that Judy hired a babysitter so that she could protect Jill and Sidney, but that seems unlikely as her own child would likely take precedence. It is also possible that Gale was being paranoid about Dewey being seduced by Hicks, but it’s very out-of-character for both the loving mom Hicks and the usually-sharp Gale. The revelation that Judy Hicks had an unmentioned child at home makes Gale’s fears seem less reasonable and the deputy’s priorities seem wildly out of whack. Nonetheless, this Scream 4 retcon is one of Scream 2022's more peculiar reveals and one that still has no satisfying canon explanation in the Scream franchise.