A Scream queen has officially returned.

Nearly 12 years after first starring as fan favorite Kirby Reed in Scream 4, Hayden Panettiere is back in Ghostface’s crosshairs for Scream VI. Back then, Panettiere was fresh off her star-making run on Heroes and part of a new generation of franchise stars—in the last Scream installment to be directed by the legendary Wes Craven. Ever-sarcastic Kirby proved to be a horror-genre savant, but her expertise still wasn’t enough to help her realize that her love interest, Charlie (Rory Culkin), and her best friend, Jill (Emma Roberts), were the latest Ghostfaces terrorizing Woodsboro. Yet while Charlie stabbed Kirby twice, a dead body was technically never shown. 

“The rule is, if you don’t see somebody really, truly die onscreen, then chances are they’re alive,” Panettiere reminds me. 

And fans long held on to that hope—as did Kirby’s portrayer. An Easter egg in the fifth film, 2022’s Scream, revealed that Kirby did survive. A call from Panettiere to the franchise’s current creative team (known as Radio Silence) was enough to clinch her reappearance for Scream VI, which finds Kirby as an FBI agent who comes to New York City following another Ghostface attack. 

For Panettiere, Scream VI is a homecoming in more ways than one: Not only is she returning to the franchise, she’s returning to the screen after a four-year hiatus from acting. We had a spoilery chat with the Nashville alum about willing Kirby’s revival into existence, relating to her character’s trauma, and second-guessing herself.

Vanity Fair: Does it feel surreal to be talking about Kirby and a new Scream film?

Hayden Panettiere: Nothing surprises me anymore, but this would be at the top of surprises. I am grateful and humbled and so happy to be back and part of the team again.

Well, people are so happy to have you back—your first appearance got the biggest cheers of anything in the movie at my screening. What does it mean to know people are that jazzed about your return?

I love it! [Laughs] It’s so inspirational. It felt like coming home. I did this not just for me, but for the fans as well. I felt so much love, to the point where I was calling [the filmmakers] up, like, “I think Kirby might still be alive, and I think she can come in handy, so if there’s a place where you can slip me in, please do!” And that they did. People go through trauma, and you either run, you hide, you’re scared of your own shadow, or you come out fighting. And Kirby came out fighting, which I love about her.

Why do you think that Kirby has resonated so strongly with the fandom? 

I think it’s just her soul. She’s got that sass that we love, that edge. She’s a total nerd, too, as am I. She’s a fan, she loves it—and she lived it. And she is a fighter, a protector, and she lives for the excitement of it. I think that’s what people love, just her fearlessness and her willingness to go the extra yard.

What was it about the character that originally drew you in?

I found her very relatable—I loved that she was her own person. She was not a sheep; she was a wolf, for sure. I mean, I think back and my favorite line is, “What’s your favorite scary movie?” “Bambi.” [Laughs] I just love that spitfire about her.

We officially learned that Kirby survived via an Easter egg in last year’s Scream. Is that the way you found out, or did you get a heads-up on that?

It was a little bit of both. As I said, I called them and was like, “I think I might be alive, and please do use me if there’s a chance that that can happen.” And so they threw that little Easter egg in there, which people picked up on and loved, and it sparked the fire, and then it just grew from there.

What were the subsequent conversations like with the Radio Silence crew about a Kirby comeback?

It’s me, like, pulling and begging for answers, asking a lot of questions. “Is she going to live? Is she going to die? What does she do? Where has she come from? Where has her trauma brought her?” And they kept it cool—they wanted to hold back. There were a few different ideas and options, and I was very, very satisfied with what they landed on. 

In Scream 4, she’s a teenager, and in Scream VI, she’s obviously a grown woman—an officer of the law, and someone who’s been through a tragedy that will forever stay with her. So did anything change this time around in your approach to playing her? 

I think I just took my own life experiences, the things that I have been through, and applied them to it. Because we both have been through trauma, and the way that we handle trauma is something that we have in common. We don’t crumble—we find the light and we come out. It’s all or nothing, dukes up.

It’s been over a decade since you played Kirby, and it’s been a few years since you last acted. Knowing all of that, what were those first few days on set like? Was there a readjustment period?

I was terrified. I was afraid that I didn’t have what it takes anymore. I had taken four years off, and it was like a muscle that had atrophied if you don’t use it. I was afraid that I couldn’t memorize the same way, that I was going to question myself, second-guess myself. It helped so much to have the camaraderie that we had on the film; the cast, the crew was so warm, so welcoming. We laughed the whole time. We had so much fun and had each other’s backs. Every time I stepped on the set, I became more and more confident and gained more and more of that faith back in myself.

Late in the film, it’s strongly suggested that Kirby is the new Ghostface, which I refused to believe. When Dermot Mulroney’s character says that she was fired for being unstable, I went, Nope, you just gave yourself away, man! What was your reaction to Kirby being set up like that?

Oh, I loved it. It keeps you guessing, keeps you thinking, keeps you on your toes. And you don’t want it to be true, but you’re like, Oh, my gosh, I think I know… It is one of those jump-out-of-your-seat, jump-onto-the-person-next-to-you, screaming-at-the-screen sort of films.

As I was watching the last act unfold, I asked myself, Would fans be more mad if Kirby was Ghostface or if Kirby was killed by Ghostface? What do you think?

That’s a good question! They’d probably be angrier if she were the killer. I think they would go through a grief cycle if she were killed.

I appreciated that Kirby got these little moments with almost all of the other major characters. Did you have a favorite dynamic or moment?

I loved working with Dermot Mulroney; that dynamic was new and our chemistry was fantastic. I loved working with Jasmin Savoy Brown and her kind of being the new Kirby, the film nerd. We go head-to-head in the scene and find that we have mutual respect for each other. All the relationships in this film are special and spectacular, but it also makes you go, Wow, you really cannot trust anybody, can you?

Thankfully, this time around we get definitive proof that Kirby is still alive, and she tells Sam and Tara that she’s just a call away. Can we consider that your official stance on future Scream installments?

No conversations yet, but, yes, I am just one phone call away. Always.