Should Scream 7 Kill Off One Of Sidney’s Family Members?

Highlights

• Scream 7 should avoid killing off characters like in Halloween Kills.
• If Sidney’s family is killed, it must be earned and relevant to her arc.
• It might be a consideration to kill Sidney off instead of her family to maintain balance in the story.

Scream 7 has experienced some major challenges in pre-production, with Melissa Barrera’s firing and Jenna Ortega’s departure, but things are looking more positive for the project as it prepares to start shooting later this year. Kevin Williamson is taking on directorial duties, and Neve Campbell is returning as Sidney Prescott. Scream 7 must now avoid potential stumbling blocks in the story, especially if it plans to kill off a major character. It needs to learn from the mistakes made in Halloween Kills, if it wants to stick the landing.

David Gordon Green rebooted Halloween in 2018, with Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends following in 2021 and 2022 respectively. The creative team took a substantial risk in Halloween Kills by killing off Laurie Strode’s daughter, Karen (played by Judy Greer). This decision faced backlash from the fans due to the execution and nature of her death. If Scream 7 plans to kill off Sidney Prescott’s family members, it has to be earned and mean something, otherwise it’ll just ruin the movie.

What happened to Karen in Halloween Kills?

David Gordon Green’s Halloween in 2018 successfully brought Laurie Strode back to fight Michael Myers once again, acting as a direct sequel to the 1978 classic, ignoring all the Halloween sequels that came after it. In this new version, Laurie had a daughter called Karen, and a granddaughter, Allyson.

The trio of final girls survived their first bout with The Shape, after burning down Laurie’s house, and supposedly killing Michael Myers. However, he somehow escaped the flames, and returned to hunt down his prey in Halloween Kills, with events taking place on the same night.

At the end of Halloween Kills, Karen goes to the Myers house where she finds Allyson sitting on the front porch, and they hug, with the belief that the carnage had finally come to an end with Michael Myers supposedly dead. Karen then heads into the house to take in the brutal events. She walks into Judith Myers’ old room and has a look around before heading towards the window and looking out. In the final scene of Halloween Kills, Karen notices Michael Myers’ reflection appearing behind her, and she turns around as he begins stabbing her repeatedly to death.

Many fans believed it was a step too far to kill off Laurie Strode’s daughter, after the character had been through so much torment over the years. It was a joyous moment to see Karen survive alongside Allyson and Laurie in Halloween 2018, and this happy ending was ripped apart in Halloween Kills. There was so much more to explore between Laurie and Karen, and it was a huge mistake to kill off this character in Halloween Kills.

Scream 7 needs to learn from Karen’s death in Halloween Kills.

Scream 7‘s rumored Sidney story looks set to shift the focus back onto the original final girl. Sidney’s husband, Mark Kincaid, is likely to return to the franchise, with the introduction of their teenage daughters into the story after a likely five-year time jump. The stakes will be much higher now that Sidney’s husband and offspring are under threat, and there might be a temptation to emulate Karen’s death in Halloween Kills, and kill off one of the Sidney’s loved ones.

If Scream 7 chooses to go down this route of killing one of Sidney’s family members, they must approach it differently to Halloween Kills. If one of Sidney’s family is to die at the hands of Ghostface in Scream 7, it has to be earned and feel relevant to Sidney’s arc. The existence of Scream 7 has already undone Sidney’s happy ending, so it poses the question: Hasn’t Sidney been through enough trauma already?

Before the events of the first Ghostface attacks in Scream, Sidney had already suffered the loss of her mother, Maureen Prescott, after she was murdered. She has also lost close friends, including Tatum and Dewey Riley, and her boyfriend, Derek, in Scream 2. There is a suggestion that killing off Mark Kincaid or their children could be one step too far. However, this is a slasher franchise and people die frequently, so it’s more than likely Sidney will lose one of her loved ones in Scream 7. Mark Kincaid would probably be the likeliest to die, echoing Dewey’s major death in Scream (2022), leaving Sidney and her teenage daughters to avenge his death.

Scream 7 needs to strike a balance between Scream 6‘s penchant for keeping a lot of characters alive, and Halloween Kills‘ absolute brutality and disregard for killing important characters, like Karen. Sidney’s teenage daughters could be the future of the franchise, and it might be a good idea to keep them alive. It might even make more sense to kill Sidney off in Scream 7, as a sacrifice for her children, rather than put the final girl through the torment of losing more of her family to Ghostface’s knife.