Scream is like no other slasher series and while that's down to its meta comedy and self-reflective writing, the glue holding it together is its legacy characters. So often, the final girl is just that—the final girl. They’re alone in their last struggle for survival as all of their friends have died, leaving them to fend off whatever masked killer is storming down the corridor solo. Halloween set the mould with Laurie Strode cowering as she expected Michael Myers to finally catch up with her, only for Dr Samuel Loomis to gun him down. Cops and doctors are the exceptions that prove the rule, but otherwise, if you’re friends with the lead, you don’t get to see the sequel. Until Scream. Sorry, Tatum.

We saw Dewey and Gale re-emerge for sequel after sequel alongside Sidney, solidifying that this is a series about its survivors, not its killers, shifting what slashers so often are. It isn’t about a hockey-masked butcher who refuses to die, or a killer doll that keeps coming back, but a bunch of friends fending off copycat after copycat. But we’re 30 years on now, and constantly dragging them back for more was getting tired, so Scream (2022) finally killed Dewey, upping the ante while firmly saying it’s time for some new blood. That new blood is final girl Sam Carpenter, her sister Tara, lovable jock Chad, and his sister, film buff Mindy Meeks-Martin.

Spoilers for Scream 6 to follow.

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Each fills a similar role to Scream’s original survivors—Mindy is Randy, Chad is Dewey, and Tara is Sidney. There’s no Gale, but she’s still around anyway. That just leaves Sam, who is in a league of her own. She’s a killer’s daughter, takes nobody’s shit, and will make Ghostface run down a corridor screaming rather than the other way around. The group, which Chad affectionately calls the Core Four, is Scream to the bone, but also feels fresh, moving the series forward with new and more modern ideas.

Sam Carpenter in Scream 6 holding a knife

Sidney was already a breath of fresh air for the final girl trope in the ‘90s, stepping out of her house to pick her nose and poke fun when called by the killer. She was able to hold her own, and kept that energy until the finale, where she donned the mask and skewered her killer boyfriend with an umbrella. Sam takes that to the next level, as she’s not only willing to fight, but ready at a moment’s notice. When a Ghostface copycat starts up in New York City, she’s already armed, has a getaway plan ready, and is desperate to hunt them down, rather than laying low and waiting to see what happens. And that desperation manifests in kills as violent as Ghostface’s.

Chad, Mindy, Sam, and Tara are ultimately a family at the ready, and that’s what feels so unique—they move on and live their lives, but they move on together, rather than splintering in all different directions. By the time Ghostface returns, they’re already together, ready to get going the second the news reporter reads out that tragic teleprompter. The original Scream trio stuck by each other’s side, but only during the killings.

In Scream 2, Randy and Sidney went to college together, but they strayed apart as Sidney found new friends, while Dewey kept to Woodsboro and Gale continued her life as a reporter. After the first movie, they didn’t build their lives around each other, but the Core Four did. Not just because of trauma, but because they love each other.

Sam and Tara Carpenter outside a crime scene in Scream 6

Nothing shows this better than the last hangover of the original Trio, Gale, who is separated from the wider group. She's left alone in her apartment, kept out of the investigation, and told to hang back during crucial moments. After the last Ghostface spree, she cut herself off (again), wrote a book that harmed her friends (again), and didn't stick by those who survived (again). In fact, she and Sidney appear to have drifted apart once more, even after Dewey's death. The original trio were friends of circumstance, while the Core Four are by each other's side no matter what. That's what sets them apart, and it's why Gale now feels like an outsider.

Scream 6 shows a new kind of friendship that builds on the original trio in a way their predecessors never could since they were all brought together in the first place because of the killings. The Core Four were friends before all of this, so we’re no longer watching a group of survivors get pulled back together time and time again to fight off another masked villain, we’re watching people who, between the films, are still together, only growing closer with or without a Ghostface on the other end of the line.

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