Unlike most slasher franchises, the Scream series is usually defined by its protagonists. The original five films included three of the same characters in every entry. Now, however, Scream writer Kevin Williamson reveals which character he regrets killing off the most.
Fans of the franchise can likely already guess. It’s a scene that’s considered heartbreaking by many fans of the series. And yes, as shared via EW, it happens during the events of Scream 2.
Kevin Williamson spoke with EW about none other than Randy Meeks’ unfortunate death from Scream 2. It’s a scene that caught many fans off-guard and still does to this day. This, of course, was his intention when killing off Randy in Scream 2 as he explained:
“I thought if you kill someone really important to the audience in the middle, it just ups the stakes. Everything’s off the table. I knew we weren’t going to kill Sydney, I knew we weren’t going to kill Gale or Dewey. Those three characters, for Scream 2, were safe, and so I had to look to the secondary characters,” Williamson began.
Sadly, however, he admits that he didn’t expect the franchise to survive this long. As such, he felt Randy’s death was just the right moment to get audiences upset and unnerved for the sequel at hand.
“I love Randy, I would have given him a much bigger life had I known this franchise was going to live and live,” Williamson added. “I would have loved for him to be a legacy character. At the time, I thought it would just be the punch in the gut the audience needed at that time, to really get mad, and get mad at the killer.”
Of course, Randy’s presence has still been included with later sequels. Scream 3 included a cameo where Jamie Kennedy reprised his role as Randy for a video tape appearance. The film also introduced Randy’s sister who later made an appearance in this year’s fifth Scream film. The fifth film also introduced audiences to her children, Mindy and Chad, who will once again be appearing in next year’s new sequel Scream VI.
Fans will be able to see Scream VI in theaters on March 10, 2023. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for additional updates as we have them.