A killer concept. Following the success of the Scream franchise, MTV introduced a more long-term slasher concept in the form of a TV series.
In 2015, Scream premiered as a separate entity based on murders that take place in the fictional town of Lakewood. Emma Duval (Willa Fitzgerald) finds herself taunted by the killer due to her connection to the town’s dark history.
Ahead of the horror show’s debut, season 1 showrunner Jill Blotevogel explained how the writers room approached creating a slasher for the small screen.
“It really came down, to make it feel like Scream, that Scream is about a real physical killer and the mask that he wears,” she told Collider in 2015. “It was about getting that meta tone down, the humor and really tapping into the idea of technology and how kids today make themselves incredibly vulnerable with what they expose about themselves on the internet. … And how we all wear masks by what we put out on social media, with the photos we put out there and the information that we release.”
The producer noted that the TV series was focused on getting the audience invested in the core story. “With this show, we really wanted to start with the characters and this amazing cast and get you to care for them and fall in love with them, so you’re rooting for them to survive,” Blotevogel continued. “A lot of times, in a horror movie, you don’t have enough time to get to know them well enough to care that much. We want to keep that uncertainty. We want to keep people off-balance, so that they don’t know necessarily when, if or how someone might die.”
For the Harper’s Island alum, the “trickiest aspects” of Scream came with the murders. “As soon as you create characters and you start working with them, you fall in love with them, as a writer and producer, as well. It’s been really hard doing that,” she added at the time.
In October 2016, the series was picked up for a third season which was later turned into a reboot. The short-lived series, titled Scream: Resurrection, introduced a new setting and new cast members.
Original star Carlson Young later reflected on the “shocking” turn of events. “It was like, ‘You got renewed for a third season!’ Then it was quiet. And we’re like, ‘What does that mean?’ And especially just the way the show ended. There’s these cliffhangers and, I don’t know, it didn’t feel wrapped up,” Young, who played Brooke Maddox on the first two seasons, told Collider in January 2021. “But when they decided to do the reboot, it was just sort of moving right along and kind of taking the entire experience with gratitude, and I even have a fraction to do with the Scream fanbase, which is the best and just the franchise in general.”
The True Blood alum also opened up about what type of ending she would have liked for her character. “I’m just speaking for myself, but I feel like the other actors would say the same thing, we were just trying to do the best we could within this framework and to make this TV version something different and interesting,” Young explained. “I do feel like there could have been a really great episode where we all die. Like, why don’t you just kill everybody? It’s Scream! But, you know, just my thoughts!”
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