Hayden Panettiere's 'Scream VI' return began with phone call

A blond woman dressed in black stands with a hand on her left hip in front of a Ghostface poster.

By Jonah ValdezStaff Writer

March 7, 2023 4:29 PM PT

As “Scream” movies go, it all started with a phone call.

But this was a phone call Hayden Panettiere actually wanted.

It wasn’t Ghostface on the line, looking for a kill, but rather the man behind the iconic horror villain himself, “Scream” writer-creator Kevin Williamson. He was calling to persuade her to reprise her role in “Scream VI,” the filmmaker told People at the movie’s world premiere Monday.

Panettiere had a starring role in the 2011 film “Scream 4” as Kirby Reed, a high- schooler in Woodsboro who struggles to survive amid another Ghostface massacre. At the end of the movie, as she lay in a pool of blood after being stabbed, viewers were unsure of Kirby’s fate.

Her character did not return in last year’s “Scream,” sparking further questions about Kirby. During filming of the fifth film, Panettiere even called the production, asking to return, she said Monday on “Good Morning America.”

“I actually called them ... when they were doing ‘Scream 5’ and I was like, ‘Without me?! Wait. Hold on. I might still be alive, and I could come in handy,’” Panettiere said.

However, leading up to the sixth film, which hits theaters this week, it was the production team that came calling for her. But Williamson had difficulty tracking down Panettiere, who had taken time off from acting. She had moved from L.A. to Nashville.

“No one knew where she was, because she had just sort of moved out of L.A.,” Williamson told People. He was able to reach friends in Nashville who were able to quickly connect the two.

“They said, ‘Give me five minutes,’ and in five minutes, I was talking to her by phone,” he said.

Once on the phone with Panettiere, Williamson offered up a conversation with “Scream VI” directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.

“Absolutely, have them call me right away,” the “Heroes” alum told Williamson.

In “Scream VI,” Panettiere’s Kirby is known as the sole survivor of the recent Woodsboro massacre. She is now a special agent with the FBI who is called in to help address Ghostface’s new slew of murders in New York City.

Panettiere said she sees similarities between herself and Kirby, Women’s Health reported Monday. After the birth of daughter Kaya with retired pro boxer Wladimir Klitschko in 2014, Panettiere struggled with postpartum depression, which she publicly spoke about. She admitted herself to treatment facilities for her depression and subsequent addiction to alcohol and had to give up custody of her child.

“She has that human trauma, and it’s changed her,” Panettiere said about her “Scream” character. “That’s something I can obviously relate to.”

Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera, who both starred in the fifth “Scream” film, will also reprise their roles, along with Courteney Cox. Cox’s Gale Weathers, a reporter and author, has remained a main character in the franchise since Wes Craven’s original in 1996.

Neve Campbell, who carried the franchise for five movies as Sidney Prescott, will be notably absent. Campbell cited a pay dispute as the reason for her departure. She said that her gender played a factor and that Paramount’s offer “did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise.”

“As a woman in this business,” she told People in August, “I think it’s really important for us to be valued and to fight to be valued.”