MTV's Underrated Scream TV Series Features A Beloved Reacher Star
The future of "Scream" is in a bizarre place right now. The upcoming seventh installment of the popular slasher franchise is weirdly moving forward without Melissa Barerra, the lead final girl of the previous two films, in addition to bringing just about every series alumni back into the fold (even the dead characters). The last time this franchise was in such an unpredictable state was in the early 2010s after the release of "Scream 4."
In 2011, Wes Craven returned to helm the fourth installment, which still remains one of its best. Unfortunately, "Scream 4" would also be the last feature the horror maestro directed before his death in 2015. We all know now that "Scream" would return over a decade later with the Radio Silence-directed duology, but in the interim, fans pondered whether Craven was even interested in making another movie. As rumors and speculation kept circulating, the only source of news that confirmed a return to the world of "Scream" came from the folks at MTV. The slasher franchise, like a lot of horror titles, was making the leap from film to television — albeit without Craven's direct involvement beyond an executive producer credit.
"Scream: The Series" premiered on MTV in 2015 to mixed reviews from critics and an even harsher reception from fans. When the show first started, it was more of a traditional teen drama with a slasher skin over it. That first season is pretty rough around the edges, as it's still trying to navigate its dual identities. Thankfully, the second season presents a much more confident show that becomes a worthy successor to the film series.
MTV's "Scream" follows the same pattern of the first film where a masked killer stalks and murders a group of high school kids. The most notable presence of the young ensemble, however, is a face that fans of Prime Video's "Reacher" will recognize right off the bat.
Willa Fitzgerald was the series lead, but not as Sidney Prescott
The past few years have been great when it came to spreading the talent of Willa Fitzgerald to the world, between making a splash opposite Alan Ritchson's Jack Reacher and co-leading the 2024 indie horror hit "Strange Darling." I'm no fan of the latter, but it's a testament to her performance that it rises above the rest of the film. But before this rise to fame, Fitzgerald was the series lead of MTV's "Scream."
Here, Fitzgerald plays Emma Duval, a high school girl who appears to have a connection with the ensuing death toll on account of the Lakewood Slasher. Frustrated by the lack of answers surrounding the murders, Emma and her friends take it upon themselves to search for clues and unmask the killer (or killers) before they're next on the chopping board.
In some ways, Fitzgerald's Emma shares a similar DNA with Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott in that the killing spree circles back to her mother and her sins of the past, but character-wise, they couldn't be more different. She's trapped in this in-between space of embracing her status among the popular girls or spending time with her friends further down the high school clique hierarchy. Thankfully, the series finds a way to bring the two camps together and have them learn from one another as the murders reveal that the Lakewood Slasher is coming for them all.
If you're into the "Scream" movies and hear that there's a short-lived television show on MTV starring none of the same characters, talent, or slasher meta-commentary, I get why you would be hesitant to check it out. However, if you can groove with that bumpy but promising first season, "Scream: The Series" really opens itself up in its follow-up batch of episodes.
Scream: The Series came into its own before transforming into a much worse show
The smartest thing this series did was not try to recreate the same cast of characters that made Craven's films so popular. Bex Taylor-Klaus, John Karna, Amadeus Serafini, Carlson Young, and Fitzgerald form a fascinating new dynamic where each is transformed by their horrific experience of being chased by the Lakewood Slasher. In some ways, the MTV series utilizes its new generation cast better than the Radio Silence films. You feel like these characters, as much as you grow to like them, could be up for the slaughter at any moment once the killings resume.
As for the kills themselves, they're shockingly pretty brutal. The Lakewood Slasher, who wears a mask that differs from the traditional Ghostface design, uses scythes, and sets up a trap that splits one of Emma's crushes down the middle with a huge trencher saw.
By the end of season 2, MTV's "Scream" had not only taken the show to a whole new level in its shocking disruption of the group dynamic, but presented a path forward that not even the films can lay claim to. The series was sadly left in an awkward position after it followed up the cliffhanger ending of a Halloween special by not ending the story with a proper third season, but by starting anew on VH1.
The rebranded "Scream: Resurrection" arrived a few years later with the Ghostface mask, Roger L. Jackson's vocal performance, and a whole new set of characters. I finally checked it out for completionism's sake, and it's by far the worst project attached to the "Scream" name. Even if you weren't into the first two seasons, at least they knew that this series works best as a dark, yet playful series of slasher stories.