Hayden Panettiere is returning to the world of Scream.
Panettiere, who was one of the stars of 2011’s Scream 4, has closed a deal to reprise her character in the latest installment of Spyglass Media and Paramount Pictures’ horror franchise.
The two companies resurrected the slasher movie series in January with Scream – also the name of the 1996 original that started it all – the fifth installment that proved audiences were craving some bloody thrills as it tallied more than $81 million domestically and $140 million worldwide.
A sequel was quickly in the works and this week it was announced that Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding and Jenna Ortega, who survived their ordeal with the killer known as Ghostface, would be returning. Principal photography is slated to start this summer.
In Scream 4, Panettiere played Kirby Reed, a teen in fictional and terror-filled Woodsboro, California, the setting for the Scream franchise stories. While initially a “best friend” type, Reed rises to hero status by the end, which also sees her near-mortally wounded but now a survivor.
Plot details for the new feature are being kept under the cloak, but the companies said the new feature “continues with the four survivors of the Ghostface killings as they leave Woodsboro behind and start a fresh chapter.”
The creative team behind the reboot is all back for this latest endeavor. James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick return to co-write the screenplay while Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, from a filmmaking collective known as Radio Silence, are back as directors.
Project X Entertainment’s Vanderbilt, Paul Neinstein and William Sherak are serving as producers. Williamson and the third member of Radio Silence, Chad Villella, are executive producing alongside Spyglass’ Gary Barber and Peter Oillataguerre, Ron Lynch, Cathy Konrad and Marianne Maddalena.
Panettiere had a breakout role as cheerleader Claire Bennett in NBC superhero series, Heroes. The latest Scream will mark her first on-screen appearance since wrapping a six season-starring stint on musical drama, Nashville, which ran from 2012 to 2018.
She is repped by Mainstay Entertainment.