When it comes to the slasher genre, the final girl is as important as the slasher killer themself. For decades, horror fans have celebrated final girls like Laurie Strode, Nancy Thompson, and Sidney Prescott in their fights against Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, and Ghostface. When the fifth Scream was released in 2022, the franchise introduced a new lineup of teen characters to take on another new Ghostface: twins Mindy and Chad Meeks (niece and nephew to Scream legacy Randy Meeks), Amber Freeman, Richie Kirsch, Tara Carpenter, and Scream's new protagonist, Sam Carpenter.

Though Sam is ostensibly the protagonist of Scream, it’s her younger half-sister Tara that stands out among the cast in both it and its sequel, Scream VI. More than a clueless character just waiting to meet the end of Ghostface’s knife, this Gen-Z teen proves herself a capable fighter and follow-up to fan-favorite hero Sidney Prescott. The franchise seemingly found a character that could be the new lead of the franchise, similar to Michael B. Jordan's Adonis Creed becoming the new face of the Rocky franchise. However, now Ortega has departed Scream VII, and the studio now finds themselves scrambling to salvage the film after a series of bad headlines for their firing of Melissa Berrera.

Here is why Tara Reed became the breakout star of the Scream franchise, why she was so beloved, and also what the future holds for the horror franchise now that Ortega has left the series.

Update January 3, 2024: This article has been updated following the controversy surrounding the development of Scream VII, including Jenna Ortega exiting the project.

Tara Survives the Famous Scream Opening

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Paramount Pictures

Since the beginning, one of the most iconic pieces of the Scream franchise is its killer opening scenes. As established by Drew Barrymore’s Casey Becker in the original Scream, the character introduced at the beginning of these movies is destined to die after a sick game of cat and mouse with Ghostface. In Scream (2022), though, Tara survives. Using every resource at her disposal—her Stab knowledge, her phone, a knife, her hands and feet, etc.—to fight back, and despite sustaining several wounds, Tara manages to hold out long enough for the paramedics to arrive.

She shines because of her tenacity; not only is she able to hold her own well enough physically, but she is also intelligent and courageous. Even if Tara Carpenter had followed the franchise tradition and died in the opening of Scream (2022), there’s no doubt that she’d still hold a place as one of the series’ strongest heroines. It showed that the franchise was willing to subvert expectations but also someone realized that there was more to Tara's story and keeping her alive was a smart move.

She’s Strong Enough to Fight Off Ghostface

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Paramount Pictures

While it’s Tara’s mental aptitude that ultimately allows her to survive until the authorities show up, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t put up a good physical fight against Ghostface. Even with a broken leg, injured arm, and multiple stab wounds, Tara survives the killer’s assault at Woodsboro Hospital. In Tara's final battle against Ghostface, she again uses every available resource to fight off the killer and give Sam, Sidney, and Gale the opportunity to retaliate.

Related: Scream 7: Who's Left to Carry on the Franchise?

Tara shows off her physical strength and quick feet again in Scream VI; take, for instance, the moment she and Sam encounter New York City’s Ghostface as he stalks them into a small bodega. The scene is terrifying, the killer mutilating multiple bystanders while Tara and Sam retreat behind the cramped store shelves. On the defensive, the two crawl through the bodega aisles to hide from Ghostface before striking at just the right moment, knocking over a shelf and incapacitating the killer long enough for them both to get away unscathed.

She’s Defeated Multiple Ghostfaces

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Paramount Pictures

Tara not only survives every encounter against Ghostface in Scream (2022), but she ultimately defeats one of them (Amber) herself. With a clever line referencing her earlier commentary about The Babadook being her favorite horror flick, Tara fatally shoots Amber and saves the day, paying homage to Sidney Prescott by shooting the killer in the head as Sidney does in almost every other Scream movie. Additionally, while Sidney has been preyed upon countless times by different incarnations of Ghostface, she's rarely had to defeat Ghostface while recovering from severe bodily injuries. Tara, meanwhile, deals with both mental and physical trauma while taking down the duo of killers, making her quite the force to be reckoned with.

Tara’s tenacity against the masked murderer continues into Scream VI. Not one to let the past define her, Tara heads into her college years with the hope that she can forget the traumatic events of the previous film. But when Ghostface returns and ruins any dreams Tara had of moving on, the young survivor helps her sister defeat the Kirsch trio of killers. Trapped by Detective Wayne Bailey, Quinn, and Ethan after the three reveal themselves as Richie’s family, Sam and Tara use their surroundings to beat back the murderers. In a moment of growth, Sam lets Tara go physically and mentally, allowing the younger sister to fatally stab Ethan and survive a nasty knife wound herself.

Tara Has the Best Character Development

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Paramount PIctures

Tara Carpenter is introduced as an average teenager who’s more interested in modern-day “elevated horror” than classic slasher fare. Upon surviving the opening attack in Scream (2022), Tara shows her more vulnerable side, especially as it pertains to her half-sister, Sam. Tara harbors some resentment towards Sam for abandoning the family as a teenager, only to be compounded when Sam reveals the big secret of her heritage immediately after Tara’s life-or-death encounter with Ghostface. Nevertheless, Tara's maturity comes to the surface when she forgives Sam soon after and then fearlessly battles Amber to defend her half-sister from certain death.

Related: Scream VII: Why Jenna Ortega Returning Was More Important Than a Neve Campbell Comeback

Scream VI is all about recovering from trauma instead of letting it fester and take over your life, and this is epitomized in the Carpenter sisters. While Sam is trying to overcome her trauma—whether it be from her father or her ex-boyfriend—Tara wants to aggressively move past what happened and live without fear. By the sequel’s end, Sam finally learns that she can trust her sister to take care of herself, and Tara realizes that she can never truly grow after what life has put her through until she accepts help. From beginning to end, Tara continues to grow as a character, making her top-tier Final Girl material.

Jenna Ortega is One of the Best Actors in the New Scream Films

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Paramount Pictures

Any horror Final Girl is only as memorable as the actor portraying them: Jenna Ortega turns in an incredible performance as Tara Carpenter. Jenna Ortega is absolutely magnetic, so it’s gut-wrenching for audiences invested in the character’s well-being and the actor’s continued screentime to watch Tara being attacked. In just her first ten minutes, Tara won over many a Scream fan. As the film unfolds, Tara's struggle becomes increasingly relatable as she reconnects with her estranged sister while dealing with Ghostface's continual attacks.

The movie also was released the same year that Ortega was blowing up as one of the most in-demand stars. A few months after Scream (2022) opened, she was seen in the horror film X, solidifying her status as a scream queen. She closed out 2022 with the role of Wednesday Addams on the series Wednesday. The series became one of the biggest shows in the history of Netflix, and while much of the appeal of the show was nostalgia for the Addams family brand, it was also the star power of Ortega that got audiences to tune in.

Scream VI allowed Ortega to take Tara in a new direction as she tries to move on from her stained past in Woodsboro and her relation to Sam, who is in the public spotlight following what happened. It’s a delight to watch this new Tara trying to navigate the complexities of life and fighting with her sister for her right to make mistakes. Tara’s method of moving on and refusing to let the shadows of the past haunt her is refreshing, especially when considering the plethora of trauma-driven characters in horror over the last few years.

Where Will the Scream Franchise Go Without Jenna Ortega and the Carpenter Sisters?

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Paramount Pictures

At just 21 years old, Jenna Ortega has already exhibited the kind of star power that draws in audiences and keeps them on the edge of their seats. Given the actor’s lengthy horror repertoire—including The Babysitter: Killer Queen, You, Insidious: Chapter 2, Studio 666, X, and Netflix’s Wednesday—Ortega has already established herself as a modern-day scream queen, a worthy fit to take over for Neve Campbell as the Scream franchise’s final girl. It’s too bad, then, that 2023 saw fans’ hopes for Ortega’s continued role in Scream dashed.

In late November 2023, Melissa Barrera (who plays Sam Carpenter) was fired from Scream by Spyglass Entertainment for her social media posts pertaining to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Soon after, Ortega and director Christopher Landon left Scream VII as well. While Ortega’s departure was not an explicit act of solidarity—she reportedly dropped from the franchise when Spyglass refused to give the actor a well-deserved pay bump—one can’t help but wonder if the timing of this announcement was affected by Barrera's firing as it was the following day. Regardless, with the director and two leads out, Scream VII will struggle to maintain the momentum it had from the previous two films.

The rebooted Scream franchise has thus far focused on the Carpenter sisters' stories, giving both actors room to grow into and with their characters; now, the series has to start all over again. And while it’s reported that Spyglass wants to bring back Neve Campbell to save this crumbling empire, that seems unlikely given the studio’s poor treatment of her in the past. Without a strong lead like Jenna Ortega to take Scream into the future, the series looks destined to die out for at least some time before it’s inevitably resurrected once more.