Warning: Full spoilers for Scream 6 are about to happen! Before we get there, though: Yes! Scream 6 does have a post-credits scene. If you want to learn about the rest of the film without spoilers, check out our Spoiler-Free Scream 6 Review.
OK! For real! It’s spoiler time now!
“Not in my movie” is one of Sidney Prescott’s most iconic lines, but what happens when it isn’t her movie anymore? The truth is, we’ll always miss Scream’s original final girl (and hope Neve Campbell’s contract negotiations smooth out and we see her again someday). But, for now, it turns out that a Sid-less Scream ended up being pretty damn great. The sequel to the requel may have botched the reason for her absence, but all of that occurs very early on in Scream 6. And we, my friends, are here to talk about what happens at the end of this chapter of the Carpenter sisters’ story and what it all means for the franchise going forward.
Scream 6 Ending Explained
It all comes down to the trophy room from hell. Sam and Tara Carpenter (Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega respectively) find themselves trapped in the decrepit theater that someone has been using as a shrine for all of the artifacts of Ghostface’s past. With them is one Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere), who seems to be acting just a little odd. She’s turned the theater into the death trap as the remaining survivors planned, but she sure does seem strangely gleeful about it. Sam and Tara grow suspicious, and it seems Detective Bailey (Dermot Mulroney) had the same concerns as he arrives on the scene so he and Kirby can have a shouty standoff ala Scream 2’s Mickey (Timothy Olyphant) and Derek (Jerry O’Connell).
Now, who among you read that paragraph and doubted our girl Kirby for even a second? Shame on you! Obviously this Ghostface was that sneaky Detective Bailey. The reveal goes about the same as it does in Scream 2, but not in a way that’s detrimental to the story. The Detective and Kirby have each other at gunpoint as they shout at Sam and Tara, insisting that the other is Ghostface, and, like Mickey before him, Detective Bailey quickly gets bored and shoots Kirby so he can turn the gun on the Carpenter sisters.
Of course, there hasn’t been a single Ghostface since Scream 3’s Roman Bridger (Scott Foley), so who’s been wearing the second mask in this film? Scream 6 is all about playing with its own tropes rather than the tropes of horror as a whole like past entries, so the answer is that there’s not one, not two, but three Ghostfaces. The second is Detective Riley’s daughter, Quinn (Liana Liberato), who up until this point was believed to be dead. The real twist belongs to her brother, though. Ethan (Jack Champion), the mild-mannered, virgin roommate of Chad Meeks-Martin (Mason Gooding) isn’t the nice guy we were led to believe.
Y’know, just like his big brother, former Ghostface Richie Kirsch (Jack Quaid).
That’s right, more Scream 2 tie-ins for you! The Bailey family doesn’t just have a surprise third child, it’s also not the Bailey family at all. The Detective changed their family name to “Bailey” to remain hidden. They’re really just Richie’s living relatives, making the Kirsch family the Ghostfaces of Scream 6. And they’re furious that their smart, capable and, as Richie’s father puts it, “virile” family member was so brutally murdered by a vicious killer like Sam Carpenter.
Scream 6’s running social commentary is basically about how easy it is to make a woman who was literally hunted and a survivor of attempted murder and repeated assaults the real monster. A truther campaign against Sam dubs her as the one true Ghostface, insisting that killing Richie Kirsch to defend her friends and sister was really our new lead stepping into her father’s (that’s Billy Loomis) shoes and becoming the brutal murderer that she’s always been. We even see it again with Kirby when the Carpenter sisters are quick to believe she’s the killer simply because she’s giddy that they’re about to execute someone emulating the entity tied to the worst day of her life!
We love a theme that both highlights our weird societal needs to vilify women and plays into our protagonist’s key fear!
We love a theme that both highlights our weird societal needs to vilify women and plays into our protagonist’s key fear! Because, the thing is, Sam doesn’t entirely know that those accusations are wrong, and that’s where the final act gets spicy.
Billy (Skeet Ulrich) continues to appear to Sam throughout Scream 6, just as he did in 2022’s Scream. Though, just like before, those visions aren’t really “Be a serial killer, baby girl!” They’re usually more along the lines of “Hey dummy, someone’s trying to gut you. Gut them back!” And, well… he may have been the winner of Worst Boyfriend Ever 1996, but Protective Dad Apparition 2022-2023 Billy Loomis isn’t technically wrong?
In listening to her father’s voice in her darkest moments, Sam propels Scream 6 miles ahead of lesser horror sequels that have attempted and dramatically failed at accomplishing the “Hunted Becomes the Hunter” trope. Once the monologues have run dry and Sam and Tara are pinned down, a switch flips, and the killer comes out. Shortly after, we see another one of Scream 6’s key themes come full circle by the way of Sam finally letting go.
In her love and defensiveness of her sister, Sam spends much of Scream 6 being the overbearing protector of Tara. All of these moments culminate in a scene in the final act where Sam is forced to drop her sister if either of them are to survive, even if it means dropping her on the waiting blade of Ethan.
In letting go (or in Tara’s case, allowing herself to fall back into the range of an awaiting Ghostface), both sisters unlock their full, stabby potential. Scream 6 sees its core characters get more brutalized than any other entry in the franchise, which is an interesting change of pace in itself already. But it gets even better when they dish it back in kind.
Sam does the majority of the killing, but Tara gets a few mean swings in herself. The youngest Carpenter absolutely brutalizes Quinn with a brick, and utters one hell of a “die a virgin!” to Ethan before delivering the final blow. But the end of one Detective Bailey is the real coup de grace.
The Detective’s final moment is particularly interesting because it’s not a killing committed in defense, but a choice. The film’s final act is filled with Bailey insisting that Sam puts on the Ghostface mask so she can finally be who she really is. In a bid to beat him at his own game, she finally acquiesces in the final moments, chasing him down and distracting him with the very voice modulator that’s been used to terrorize her, her family, and a huge number of lost victims.
When she finally catches him, Sam delivers more than a few gnarly stabs, but steps back to survey her prey before delivering the final blow. Will she become the killer her father was — that Detective Bailey believes her to be — or does she choose mercy? She’s unsure, but a single nod from Tara gives her all the go ahead that Sam needs.
This is because Tara knows that “murderer like her father” and “merciful to the point of idiocy” are not the only answers available. Billy Loomis was a sociopath who killed people for sport. Sam Carpenter’s just trying to live her life, but she will absolutely slaughter anyone coming for her or any other member of the newly dubbed Core Four (that’s Sam, Tara, and the Meeks-Martin twins). And so, slaughter she does, and down Detective Bailey goes, along with his weird, victim-blaming equivalencies.
Oh, and she gets a little bit of help from Kirby. You know our girl wasn’t going down that easily!
Before the dust can truly settle, in runs Hot Neighbor Danny Brackett (Josh Segarra) with the cavalry (half of the NYPD) because, plot twist! The love interest neither dies nor gets stabby this time! Sam kicked him to the curb before they locked themselves in the trophy room. He understands and backs off, but it looks like he wasn’t willing to let his girl go down without some backup. She didn’t need it — everyone who should to be dead is very dead — but the gesture ruled! And it points to Danny for being the first Scream boyfriend who responds reasonably and healthily when the lead gently tells him to buzz off because he could be the murderer.
Speaking of recurring Scream tropes that rule, Chad continues on as the Dewey parallel in our rebootquels! There was, like, absolutely no question that boy was dead. Earlier in the film, after he finally shares an extremely cute kiss with Tara, Ghostface pops up out of nowhere. A fight breaks out and second Ghostface reveal themselves, each grabbing Chad and completely mutilating him while Tara and Sam get away. He tells them to run, even. It’s very cute, and there’s absolutely no way anyone survived that. But he did and it’s fine because this is Scream. And, for the first time, both Carpenter sisters — or any Scream final girl — head into the next movie with a living, non-murder-y love interest.
Sam and Tara won’t be trapped in a room with Ghostface, Ghostface will be trapped in a room with them.
The final moments of Scream 6 give Sam one final choice: choose Ghostface or choose her family. But for Sam, it’s not really a choice at all. We get a prolonged shot with her staring at Billy’s dusty old mask, but the second she hears her sister it’s all over. Off they go, whether it be back home or to a brand new city in Scream 7. Whoever’s dumb enough to put Ghostface’s mask on next better watch out though, because Sam and Tara won’t be trapped in a room with Ghostface, Ghostface will be trapped in a room with them.
The real question is, is Stu Macher the final battle of the modern trilogy? Seems that there’d be no better final rival for the Carpenter sisters given that he gets several pointed mentions in Scream 6, and who better to take on Billy’s legacy than his deranged (and probably still very alive) best friend?
Guess we’ll have to wait until Scream 7 to see!
Does Gale Weathers Survive Scream 6?
She sure does! But just by the skin of her teeth. Ghostface enters Gale’s (Courteney Cox) apartment and murders her boyfriend while he chats with her on the phone. While the killer is working to keep her distracted, he notes that it’s strange that she’s not the one wearing the mask, given that the fancy New York penthouse that she currently occupies was purchased with blood money earned from exploiting the deaths of her friends and loved ones (up to and including one Dewey Riley — RIP). And he’s, well… not wrong!
After closing out Scream (2022) insisting that the killers can die in anonymity and she won’t be writing another book on Ghostface, Gale does just that. It earns her a well-timed punch in the face from Tara, given that the Carpenter sisters were exploited for her fame as well, but the real punishment comes by way of Gale’s closest brush with death yet.
A long game of cat and mouse ensues between Gale and Ghostface before the killer ultimately catches her and stabs the hell out of her. Sam and Tara interrupt right before the final blow can be dealt, but Gale was basically on death’s door by the time the EMT’s arrive.
The real question here is if this will be what finally shocks Gale Weathers into changing. She has a good talk with Sam about building your own family earlier in the film, so is it possible we see her step into a kind of surrogate mother-type for the Carpenter sisters in Scream 7? Given what we know, it’s also fully possible she returns to her same old shenanigans immediately, but time will tell!
Scream 6 Post-Credits Scene Explained
Yes there’s a post-credits scene, but it’s absolutely just Mindy Meeks-Martin pulling a Deadpool.
Amelia is the entertainment Streaming Editor here at IGN. She’s also a film and television critic who spends too much time talking about dinosaurs, superheroes, and folk horror. You can usually find her with her dog, Rogers. There may be cheeseburgers involved. Follow her across social @ThatWitchMia
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