Hayden Panettiere To Return As Kirby Reed In ‘Scream 6’

Hayden Panettiere, who played Kirby Reed in Wes Craven’s Scream 4, will return to the popular slasher franchise in the upcoming sixth installment after she missed out on this year’s Scream 5, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

We have already written about the Scream franchise on several occasions. The franchise started in 1996 with the original movie, and four sequels followed in 1997, 2000, 2011, and 2022, respectively. The latest installment was released earlier this year, it grossed $140 million against a $24 million budget, and received positive reviews for honoring the legacy of Wes Craven, a late director who directed the first four movies of the franchise before his death in 2015.

Scream 6 was announced only one month after the latest installment was released, and it will be the second appearance in the franchise for Hayden Panettiere, who played Kirby Reed, a teenager and best friend of Jill, the movie’s main antagonist who was played by Emma Roberts. Panettiere’s performance as Kirby was praised by the critics and she has become one of the fan-favorite characters.

Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, and Jenna Ortega, who joined the franchise in Scream 5 and lived to tell the tale, were yesterday confirmed to return for the sixth movie, and it is expected that the franchise veterans Courteney Cox, David Arquette, and Neve Campbell will also return, although that still needs to be officially confirmed. The production of the sixth movie will begin this summer.

Scream 6 is scheduled to be released on March 31, 2023.