Jenna Ortega recently won the Most Frightened Performance at the MTV Awards for her star-making turn in Scream (2022). Ortega played one of the survivors, Tara Carpenter, in the film and will reprise her role in the much-anticipated sequel, Scream 6. However, surviving Ghostface’s killing spree for a second time will be an uphill task, as the iconic masked villain will be more brutal than ever in Scream 6.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight at the MTV Awards, Ortega revealed that Scream 6 will be "more gory" than earlier films and will feature the "most violent" version of Ghostface yet.
"Ghostface gets a lot more intimidating. I just read part of the script, and it just gets more and more gory. I think that this is probably the most aggressive and violent version of Ghostface we've ever seen, which I think will really be fun to shoot."
After the success of 2022’s Scream, Paramount was quick to greenlight a sequel with the same creative team and all the survivors returning. Unfortunately, Neve Campbell, who played the franchise protagonist Sidney Prescott in all five movies, won’t be reprising her role in Scream 6 due to a pay dispute. However, legacy stars Courteney Cox and Hayden Panettiere will be returning in the film as Gale Weathers and Kirby Reed, respectively.
Fans were excited about a Kirby and Sidney reunion after they last appeared together in Wes Craven’s Scream 4, but it appears they’ll have to wait a little longer, assuming Kirby makes it out alive from Scream 6. Ortega is also excited about collaborating with Panettiere and teased some long-overdue redemption for Kirby, who was the unconfirmed final girl in Scream 4.
"She has been one of my favorite characters in the franchise for a long time so the fact that her character gets to come back and redeem herself is really exciting."
Jenna Ortega Was the Breakout Star of Scream 6
Jenna Ortega is on a tear this year with starring roles in Scream 6, X, and the upcoming horror-comedy series Wednesday. Ortega delivered an incredible performance in Scream as Tara Carpenter, and many believe she even outshone Melissa Barrera in the lead role. After opening with unique murder scenes with each Scream film, the makers went back to the roots with Scream 5. Ortega recreated the iconic "lone teenager on the phone with a creepy stalker" opening sequence from 1996’s Scream, starring Drew Barrymore as Casey Becker.
The only difference, however, was that Ortega’s character survives, unlike Casey Becker. She previously talked to ET about paying homage to Drew Barrymore while making the role her own.
"I wanted to make it my own, but I also wanted to make sure that the acknowledgment and respect for Drew and Wes and Kevin was there and done. I know that people are very critical because that set such a standard, it being the first scene of the franchise and it being so iconic. It's something that I think the Scream community critiques a lot and is very hardcore, and I just didn't want to let anybody down."
Hopefully, Scream 6 will deliver another brilliant opening scene as well. And it’s in dire need of doing something out of the box too, now that franchise regular Neve Campbell has decided not to star in the film. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett return to direct Scream 6, from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. Alongside Ortega, the film currently stars Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, and Dermot Mulroney.
Scream 6 will premiere on March 31, 2023.