Now that Hayden Panettiere’s Kirby is back in Scream 2022 revealed that Kirby survived the movie’s events in one Easter egg.
This seemed to pave the way for Kirby’s Scream 6 return, but it was only a few months after Scream 2022’s success that Panettiere was confirmed to have signed on for the slasher sequel. Panettiere will be ing Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Mason Gooding as returning cast for the Scream sequel. It's unclear if Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott will be involved in the story set to leave Woodsboro.
However, Scream 6 now needs to steer clear of a recurring Final Girl trope that has plagued numerous recent slasher reboots. Namely, Kirby shouldn’t be killed off solely for the sake of shock value. Kirby is one of the most beloved characters in the Scream franchise, and her return marks Panettiere’s first return to acting in years. As such, killing her off in smug subversion of audience expectations would be a woeful misstep for the franchise. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2022 ’s cheap “gotcha” moment.
It would be absurd to demand that Panettiere’s Kirby survive the event of Scream 6 unscathed. The character was already brutally stabbed and left for dead in Scream 4 and the franchise is a slasher series at the end of the day, meaning even beloved characters like Randy could always be the next to die. However, much like Scream 2022’s opening scene subverted viewer expectations by not killing off Jenna Ortega’s character, unlike the rest of the franchise’s opening scenes, Scream 6 should surprise viewers by giving Kirby a solid ing role instead of “unexpectedly” killing her off instantly or leaving her out of commission for most of the slasher sequel’s action.
In the case of both Halloween Kills and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2022, sidelining and straight-up killing off Sally and Laurie were clear attempts to wrongfoot fans. However, in both cases, the slasher sequels simply wasted fan-favorite final girls and squandered their much-vaunted returns. This emerging slasher cliche is seemingly tailor-made to annoy fans who are excited to see iconic final girls back in action, making it all the more vital for the Scream franchise not to indulge the trope when Scream 6 finally brings back Kirby.
