Supposed to have been killed by Ghostface in episode 4 of the Scream saga, Hayden Pannetière is however back in “Scream VI”.
Courtney Cox, who plays Gale in the Scream saga, thought her character was dead… Yet Kirby Reed, played by Hayden Panettiere is back in Scream VI.
Stabbed by Ghostface in the fourth film of the saga, the character is indeed back in the sixth installment. The young woman, who has become an FBI agent, comes to the aid of new heroines Samantha (Melissa Barrera) and Tara (Jenna Ortega).
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But this return is not due to the directors… In the show Good Morning AmericaHayden Panettiere has indeed announced that it was she who called the directors to submit to them the idea of bringing Kirby back.
The 33-year-old actress, who took a 4-year break from her career after postpartum depression, explains: “I had to take a break for four years to work on myself – my mental health, my physical health, my spiritual health. And I didn’t know what to do next“.
Paramount Hayden Panettiere
When the latter learned that the Scream saga was going to return to the big screen, she contacted the duo of filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett to offer them the idea of bringing her character back. The Heroes actress explains that the possibility of reprising the role of Kirby was mentioned as early as the fifth film, but did not materialize immediately.
“I could be useful!”
“When scream 5 was announced, I thought, “I want to be in it again,” because I was hoping Kirby was still alive. I wanted her back and I called them while they were preparing Scream 5 and I said: “Without me? Wait. I may still be alive, and I could be useful”.
She adds : “We’ve seen Kirby get stabbed, but we’ve never seen her die. We haven’t seen her saved either. She went through this trauma and it changed her. It’s something I can relate to today“.
So the directors decided to bring the character back and reintegrate her into the franchise.
Tyler Gillett clarifies to our microphone that the idea to bring her back in Scream 5 was not strong enough. Because of this, the filmmakers decided to wait and bring her back in Scream VI with a bigger role. “Kirby is one of our favorite characters and we wanted to pay tribute to him. So we decided to wait and make his return much more impactful in the next film. “
In Scream VI, Samantha, Tara, Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding) have left Woodsboro and now live in New York. When Ghostface makes its big comeback, they are helped by Detective Bailey played by Dermot Mulroney, Kirby, who has become an FBI agent after surviving the masked killer, and by Gale (Courteney Cox).
Scream VI hits theaters this Wednesday.