Hayden Panettiere Returning As Kirby In Scream 6

A fan-favorite character in the Scream franchise is returning, as Hayden Panettiere will reprise her role as Kirby in the sixth film. Deadline reports that the actress, who played film expert Kirby Reed in 2011’s Scream 4, will be back for the upcoming sixth film. She joins the previously-announced Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, and Jenna Ortega in the upcoming film, which begins filming this summer.

For years, the question of whether Kirby survived the events of Scream 4 were a hotly-debated topic as she’d been left for dead but had not been confirmed. This year’s Scream contained an Easter egg confirming she had been the sole survivor of the second Woodsboro murders.

The new film will follow Sam (Barrera), Mindy (Brown), Chad (Gooding) and Tara (Ortega) as they leave Woodsboro behind and start a fresh chapter. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are back to direct from a script by James Vanderbilt & Guy Busick, with the release date set for March 31st, 2023.

The new film comes off the box office success of Scream, which grossed $81.6 million domestically and $138.9 million worldwide against a budget of just $24 million.