Replacing a fan-favorite character! Hayden PanettiereIn Scream 6Kirby Reed, the returning character in the franchise, after first appearing as Kirby Reed in the fourth installment in 2011.
“I called them up myself and was like, ‘So, you guys don’t, like, happen to want to bring Kirby back, do you?’” Panettiere, 32, said during a Wednesday, July 6, appearance on Good Morning America. “I wanted to be in it that badly,” the HeroesAn alum shared her decision to contact the ScreamDirect contact with the production team
Panettiere, who didn’t appear in Scream 5, will be joined Courteney Cox, who has appeared as Ghostface in all five Ghostface movies. “I did not die so yes, you will see me,” Cox, 58, told VarietyIn June. “Gale’s pretty strong. She may never get the chance to. [die], but who knows!” she said of her character Gale Weathers.
Hayden Panettiere. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
The Friends alum’s fellow Scream OG Neve CampbellWill not be returning. “Sadly, I won’t be making the next Scream film,” Campbell, 48, said in a statement to Us WeeklyIn June. “As a woman I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream. I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise.”
Panettiere’s return to the franchise comes after several years away from showbusiness. The Remember the TitansRecently, the actress opened up about her struggles with alcoholism after giving birth to her daughter. She shared her story with Good Morning America that when things got hard, she turned to “the bottom of a bottle” for comfort.
“I didn’t have any negative feelings towards my child. I just knew I was deeply depressed and I didn’t know where the alcoholism was ending and the postpartum was beginning and I ran myself pretty ragged,” Panettiere shared.
The New York native continued, “I felt like I was walking blind and there was nobody there that was really able to support me in the way that I needed to be supported and I don’t like to ask for help either. I want to be that strong, confident woman. …When you see a happy-go-lucky girl for years suddenly on the floor in a puddle of mess and alcohol, you gotta know something’s wrong.”
Panettiere, who said she is “grateful to say that I’m sober today,” shares 7-year-old daughter Kaya with her ex Wladimir Klitschko. Both Kaya and Klitschko (46), currently reside in Ukraine.
“Watching how she has handled this whole Ukrainian situation has really blown my mind,” the Beth Cooper, I Love You star told Good Morning AmericaShe is the mother of her daughter. Panettiere, who founded Hoplon International to help bring relief and aid directly to Ukrainians on the frontlines, said Kaya is “very safe” with her father.
The Guiding Light alum added of her daughter, “She’s my favorite little person.”
