Kirby Reed
Kirby Reed is a fictional character in the Scream film series, created by Kevin Williamson and portrayed by Hayden Panettiere. She first appeared in Scream 4 and returns in Scream VI.
The character is a target in the fourth killing spree committed by Ghostface, a mysterious, masked killer who wears a ghost mask and black cloak, to pursue her and her friends. In each film, the killer targets their victims with threatening phone calls and intimate knowledge of their target's lives before one or several of the alleged victims is revealed as a killer.
In Scream 4, Reed is introduced as the best friend of franchise protagonist Sidney Prescott's young cousin, Jill Roberts, a millennial target for a copycat anniversary serial killer wearing the infamous Ghostface costume. Since the original killings, no killer has targeted Woodsboro until 2011, making it the second Woodsboro massacre. Panettiere's character worries for her survival after not receiving a phone call like her best friends. The character is a horror genre savvy, trivia fanatic with a dry sense of humor and sarcastic quip. She shows subtle interest in fellow film geek Charlie Walker.
She is initially slotted into the "sidekick" archetype but outgrows this by the final act. She rises to heroine status by the end and is left near-fatally wounded. Being the only unconfirmed victim of the Woodsboro Remake, Kirby was confirmed alive through a photographic cameo in the fifth entry, making her the sole teen survivor of the fourth film and a final girl.
Kirby has been described as a "fan-favorite" and the fourth film's breakout character.
Kirby reappears in Scream VI, now an FBI special agent based in Atlanta who travels to New York to assist in the investigation into the latest Ghostface knockoff mystery.
Appearances
''Scream 4'' (2011)
Kirby's first appearance is in Scream 4 as the 18-year-old high school senior from the fictional town of Woodsboro, in Northern California. The anniversary week of Billy Loomis and Stu Macher 's original killing spree coincides with the murder of her classmates, Jenny Randall and Marnie Cooper. She stays at her best friend, Jill Roberts 's house, with her mother, Kate and Jill's celebrity cousin and heroine, Sidney Prescott, whom Kirby admires and looks up to. Kirby credits Sidney for her love of horror movies. They receive police protection from Dewey Riley by Deputies Perkins and Hoss. Kirby gets her first call, amid watching Shaun of the Dead with Jill. Ghostface claims to be in Jill's closet, but it turns out to be their other best friend, Olivia Morris 's closet next door, whom they watch get savagely murdered. Kirby tends to Jill after she is slashed on the arm by Ghostface following Olivia's murder.She attends film geeks Charlie Walker and Robbie Mercer 's third annual Stab-A-Thon, a Friday night movie marathon celebrating all seven Stab films back-to-back. The venue takes place at an abandoned farm, where Gale Riley is stabbed during the Casey Becker opening scene. The sheriff's wife being left in critical condition causes the teens to disperse. The exception to this is Jill, who was prohibited from attending the party by her mother. Kirby is contacted by a snuck-out Jill to pick her up due to her mother "driving crazy", and they invite Robbie and Charlie to Kirby's for an afterparty. Trevor Sheldon —whom she had been suspicious of—shows up uninvited, much to her annoyance, and Charlie apologizes, being the last arrival. A drunken Kirby almost kisses Charlie, but Trevor barges in again, causing Charlie to storm off.
After Sidney arrives to warn Jill to leave, Ghostface has followed and launches at the three women at the front door after Robbie collapses to his death in front of them; the cousins run upstairs, while Kirby runs to another room in her main hallway. Kirby later reconvenes with Sidney again to say someone has smashed the router and the landline is dead; Sidney informs her she may have gotten in contact with the police. The two find Charlie outside her basement patio doors, where Sidney tells her not to let him in if she cannot trust him. Kirby cries, telling him she cannot open the door.
Ghostface arrives to attack him. Then the lights shut. When they re-open, Charlie is duct-taped and rope-tied to a chair, like Steven Orth in the original film's opening scene. Kirby must save his life with horror trivia questions, a callback to Casey Becker, also in the original scene, now taking place in the tentative climax. She mentions Psycho as starting the slasher craze, but the killer states it is Peeping Tom, the first film to "put the audience in the killer's POV." She begs for one more question to save Charlie's life. After answering every remake she can think of, Ghostface goes silent, making her assume she has won the trivia game.
Kirby goes out to untie and release Charlie, and in doing so, he stabs her in the stomach, revealing he is one of the killers. He blames her for not noticing him sooner, and is tearful about having to kill her. He stabs her in the stomach again, leaving her to drop on the floor and bleed out, still motioning on the ground. Sidney later hears a noise from the basement before Charlie grabs her and takes her away to be confronted with the other killer, Kirby's best friend, Jill. With the other two accounted for in the main hallway, it is inferred that the noise comes from Kirby, who crawls in after being stabbed. Dewey, Judy Hicks and the remaining cops arrive; the victim-acting Jill mistakes Sidney and Kirby, both stabbed in the stomach twice, as being dead. Being a family member, Dewey naively discloses to Jill that Sidney is alive; while Jill targets Sidney in her recovering hospital bed, Sidney is able to subdue and kill her psychotic cousin. Meanwhile, it is assumed Kirby was found in the basement by other law enforcement off-screen. Jill is falsely identified as a survivor, while Kirby, whose fate is in limbo, is the later-revealed true survivor and final girl.
''Scream VI'' (2023)
Kirby appears again in Scream VI, now an FBI special agent and living in Atlanta. She works alongside Detective Bailey to investigate the latest attacks made by the Ghostface killer, acknowledging her previous attack by Charlie Walker in 2011. It is shown that Kirby and Samantha Carpenter are familiar with each other, both having attended Woodsboro High School together and have a friendly reunion at the NYPD station. Kirby accompanies Sam and her friends to the Ghostface shrine, where she is seen looking at items belonging to her former best friend and past killer, Jill Roberts along with evidence from her attack at the hands of Charlie Walker.During the finale, Kirby helps Sam turn the shrine into a trap and reveals she is the only one of them that will be armed with a gun. Detective Bailey then contacts Sam to inform her that Kirby was fired from the FBI months prior due to mental instability from her previous attack. Once Bailey arrives at the scene, Kirby is shown to have been attacked again by another Ghostface killer, although Sam remains suspicious. Kirby quickly alerts Detective Bailey when she sees another Ghostface appear behind him, only to be shot twice by Bailey, who reveals himself to be one of the killers along with his children, Ethan Landry and Quinn.
Kirby is then shown to have worn a bulletproof vest and has survived her shooting, but is later stabbed once again by Ethan before killing him for good by dropping the TV that was used to kill Stu Macher on his head. She is then seen receiving medical attention for her attack, instructing Sam to call her anytime she needs.
Other appearances
Kirby has a small cameo via photograph in the fifth Scream film, simply titled Scream, confirming her survival. When Richie Kirsch watches a YouTube video by Film Fails criticizing Stab 8, she is seen in a thumbnail still on the top video on the sidebar. The video titled "Interview with Woodsboro Survivor Kirby Reed!", uploaded by Bloody Disgusting three years ago. Since the film takes place in 2021–2022, the interview occurred in 2018, when Kirby was 24.Casting and development
Casting
Hayden Panettiere was announced to be offered a role on Scream 4 on May 21, 2010, following the cancellation of Heroes. The character was described as fulfilling the "best friend" archetype to new heroine, Jill, the cousin of Sidney. One week later, Panettiere and Rory Culkin were confirmed to star in the film.Personality and creation
The casting call for Kirby characterized her as "Cute and quirky, was a tomboy until a year ago, now she's alternative, cool and sexy. Jill's best friend. She's a pop culture and horror aficionado.". Panettiere responded to false claims and rumors she was unsatisfied with her role amid press release for Scream 4: "I actually think my role is very, very, very fun. She's very sassy. She's very strong. It's a character I don't think I've ever played before. Her name is Kirby". She described portraying the character and taking direction from Wes Craven as "a blast".In an interview promoting the film, director Wes Craven praised Panettiere's performance as Kirby, working under a supporting cast member role and said, "Hayden is a real powerhouse. Tremendous technical ability. Able to bring enormous emotionalities to something very quickly. Smart. Just so full of life and laughter and fun. And, you know, played this really difficult role as Emma's best friend. And again, brought the picture up so much in her scenes. she just re-affirmed that she is just a really great actress packed into a very small package—but wow, what a powerhouse."
On Kirby's development off-screen between the fourth and sixth films, Panettiere stated, "She's come a long way. What happened to her has obviously impacted her life, and it sends her in a certain direction, but she's still the same old Kirby at the heart of it. She's just a little older, a little wiser, but just as spitfire-y, and snarky, and all that good stuff."