The horror franchiseScreamhas been an incredible journey so far. Ever since the first movie’s release in 1996, Neve Campbell has been praised for her role as Sidney Prescott, a final girl who fights but is also a caring person. Although the franchise is funny, the most terrifying thing about all five movies (so far) is that it feels like anyone could die at any moment. With a new movie wowing audiences in 2022 andScream 6in the works, fans are curious what this means for Sidney’s survival.
Since every major and minor character’s life seems to hang in the balance with each newScreamfilm, could Sidney Prescott ever die at the hands of Ghostface?
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Fans have gotten the chance to catch up with Sidney Prescott over many periods of her life. WhenScream(1996) begins, she’s a mature teenage girl who has a boyfriend who can be equally parts sweet and controlling, but Sidney is distracted by her mourning of her mother Maureen… and, of course, the fact that people are now being murdered in her small town of Woodsboro, California. InScream 2(1997), Sidney tries to have fun at college, and inScream 3(2000), she’s hiding while helping people as a counselor. Things seem better for Sidney inScream 4(2011) as she becomes a bestselling author and is able to go on tour and celebrate this career achievement, although of course there’s a new threat (or an old threat, depending on how fans look at it). InScream (2022),Sidney is married with kids and has moved on, but she knows that it’s not a massive shock that she’s called back home to help out.
There are two schools of thought on whether Sidney Prescott could ever die in aScreammovie and it’s interesting to think about both possibilities. On the one hand, fans think that of course a futureGhostface killerwill find a way to kill Sidney, as this would make a big splash and get audiences talking for weeks on end. On the other hand, fans think that of course this could never happen.Sidney Prescott is a famous final girland it would be really sad and disappointing to watch Sidney lose this epic battle that she has fighting for so many years. It just wouldn’t feel right, fair, or just, and Sidney has already lost a lot.
Big deaths in a horror franchise can be tricky.Dewey Riley’s death inScream (2022)was a mistake, and it’s still tough to imagine howScream 6will feel without the great trio of David Arquette’s character Dewey, Sidney, and Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox). Gale can be considered a final girl and it seems impossible to think about Ghostface killing Gale. If Dewey and Sidney were both gone and Gale was left standing, that doesn’t seem like it would work for the story. It’s Sidney’s world, and everything comes back to her, as Billy Loomis’s (Skeet Ulrich) original motivation for becoming a killer is about getting revenge on Sidney because his father had an affair with her mother.
While it’s always possible thatScreamcould continue beyondScream 6, andScream 7orScream 8could feature Sidney’s death scene and a new final girl stepping up to the horror movie plate, there would be need to be a good and logical explanation about how this person is connected to Sidney and the original story. The latest film did a good job by explaining that Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) is Billy’s daughter, althoughBilly is too sympathetic inScream (2022).Once fans see what happens inScream 6, it might be easier to guess what will happen to Sidney in any future films. If anything, though, it seems likely that Sidney will just become stronger.
Of course, anything can happen with an intense slasher horror movie franchise, but it’s hard to imagine Ghostface really killing Sidney. This character is beloved, tough, and has come so far. Fans have been on a wild and scary ride with Sidney for so long now and it would be incredibly upsetting to watch her die. If audiences felt strongly against Dewey’s death, it’s easy to imagine that people would be even more heartbroken if this happened to Sidney.
While there will always be speculation about what will happen to Sidney, whetherScream 6completes the franchise or there is one more movie (or even more), fans love Sidney and want to see Neve Campbell in everyScreamfilm that is made. It just wouldn’t feel likeScreamwithout Sidney as she has been there from the start and she is still the same perfect horror movie character that she has been from the very beginning.
