Does Scream 6 Tease The Return Of A Memorable Villain? An Investigation

Warning: this post contains major spoilers for "Scream VI." 

Nearly 30 years after Wes Craven's original horror classic first hit theaters and revived the slasher genre for the '90s generation, the "Scream" franchise is still going very, very strong. To that end, "Scream VI" recently hit theaters and is raking in the big bucks, with the series showing no signs of slowing down. While, as of this writing, it remains to be seen if there will be a seventh entry, one assumes that will be the case, as horror franchises never truly die when there is money to be made. And hey, speaking of death, we should talk about a death from the original that has actually been called into question thanks to the latest entry. 

Specifically, we should address the alleged death of Stu (Matthew Lillard), the fan-favorite killer from the original who plotted the O.G. Woodsboro murders alongside Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich). Now, most of us have assumed that Stu died back in '96 after being stabbed and having a TV dropped on his face by Sidney (Neve Campbell). But is he really dead? As unlikely as Stu's resurrection would seem, we now have at least some reason to believe he could have survived and maybe — just maybe — he could return in a presumed seventh film.

As is always the case, the identities of the killers are kept secret until the final act of "Scream VI," with plenty of twists, turns, and misdirection along the way. Some of those clues actually seemed to point ever so gently to the supposedly departed Stu. First off, we have Kirby (Hayden Panettiere), now an FBI agent, making her return following the events of "Scream 4," and going over the evidence on a yarn board with Detective Bailey (Dermot Mulroney). This is where the first bit of doubt regarding Stu's death comes into play.

On that board, we see the identities of every Ghostface from the previous films. Stu's picture has a big question mark next to it, rather than a cause of death or anything like that. Why? Curious, to be certain. It's a little later in the film, and also in a scene involving Kirby, that the biggest clue comes into play.

After discovering the Ghostface shrine in New York City, Kirby sits down with Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown), and the two end up testing one another's horror movie cred. During this conversation Stu comes up and, intriguingly, Mindy says something to the effect of "if you believe he's dead." Oh s**t! Clearly, this suggests there are conspiracy theories out there that argue Stu didn't die, just as there are conspiracy theories that suggest Sam (Melissa Barrera) actually orchestrated the 2022 Woodsboro murders. That conspiracy happens to be false, but what about Stu?

One might roll their eyes at the notion of this character somehow being alive after all this time, but let's also not forget that it's been a pretty popular suggestion on the ol' internet for some time. It's entirely possible that the clues in this latest movie are just a sly acknowledgement of those fans by screenwriters James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. Then again, how dead is dead in a "Scream" movie? Particularly this "Scream" movie.

We need look no further than Chad (Mason Gooding) who was stabbed an ungodly amount of times by two of our Ghostfaces at the end of this latest sequel. He was arguably the deadest person in the history of this series to actually survive. So, if Chad can live, why not Stu? In some ways, it doesn't seem like it would be breaking the established laws of this universe as we're coming to understand it.

Also, it's extremely important to note that these filmmakers also found a pretty damn clever way to bring Billy back, even if it is only as a digitally de-aged figment of Sam's imagination. Is it so hard to think these very same filmmakers wouldn't consider resurrecting Stu?

Well, as it turns out, those very same filmmakers weighed in on the possible reappearance of Stu at some point in a spoiler-filled interview with Variety following the film's release. Of note: during the final battle, Ethan (Jake Champion) has a TV dropped on his head, much like Stu does in the original "Scream." The directors were asked if this was a way of proving definitively that a TV being dropped on someone's head can kill them. "Yes," Gillett answered bluntly, before adding the following:

"That is scripted, specifically, as a brutal and definitive kill. Guy [Busick] and Jamie [Vanderbilt] wrote the TV falling on Ethan's head as a brutal and definitive kill."

That having been said, the group was then asked if Matthew Lillard could pop up in another sequel down the line. "There's no good answer, so I will never confirm or deny stuff like that," Vanderbilt said before producer William Sherak added, "anything's possible." That leaves us in a murky place, to be certain. Stu is, most likely, dead. But the evidence as laid out in the movie is there, and if the filmmakers did actually have something planned, they would never say so. For now, though, it's probably fair to assume this is nothing more than fun misdirection.