Scream 5's plot is a mystery, but if it's not a reset of the continuity, one character from the last reboot attempt, Scream 4, needs to return. It was first revealed back in fall 2019 that Spyglass Media Group was working on a new Scream film, having absorbed some of the assets of Dimension Films after their founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein ended up disgraced by the #MeToo movement. Just a few days ago, it was confirmed that the project was truly in gear, as Ready or Not directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett were signed on to take the helm.
This will make Scream 5 - or whatever title it eventually ends up with - the first movie in the franchise to not be directed by horror legend Wes Craven, who passed away in 2015. Craven's guiding hand succeeded in keeping the Scream films to a fairly consistent level of quality, even though the sequels never ended up matching the greatness of Craven's original masterpiece.
Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett certainly have some big shoes to fill, but their success with Ready or Not suggests they might just be up to the task. While Scream 5's story details are still unclear, if the door is left open for past characters to make a comeback, one Scream 4 character deserves consideration right alongside franchise mainstays like Sidney, Gale, and Dewey.
Scream 5 Should Bring Back Scream 4's Kirby Reed
Scream 4's Kirby Reed, played by Hayden Panettiere, was arguably the breakout character of the film. She's smart, funny, tough, a huge horror fan, and easy to like and root for. In practice, Kirby was basically a combination of Sidney Prescott and Randy Meeks' best qualities. That made it all the more surprising and sad when she was seemingly stabbed to death by Charlie, one of the two killers in Scream 4. However, her death is a bit ambiguous, and it's time to settle that fan debate by having Kirby return in Scream 5.
Charlie, who's revealed to have had a crush on Kirby, leaves her to die of her wounds, instead of making sure the job is finished. Kirby's dead body is also never seen afterward. More telling is that Scream 4, which plays on horror reboot tropes, was designed to begin a new Scream trilogy consisting of both old and new characters. Kirby was to be a big part of that, and Wes Craven has said that the original Scream 4 script made her survival explicit, but the scene ended up being cut before filming. Since Craven himself planned on bringing Kirby back, doing so for Scream 5 would also serve as a sort of tribute to him.