Why Scream 6 Had Chad Cheat Death Yet Again
Life is cheap in the universe of "Scream," and throughout the franchise virtually no character is safe from the creative violence of Ghostface, whoever may be behind the mask at the time. And yet, it's also not unusual to see certain characters defy the odds by surviving an encounter with the murderer, or as in the case of Chad (Mason Gooding) in "Scream 6," two Ghostfaces at the same time.
As it appears in the film, the encounter seems pretty fatal and definitive, so some viewers were surprised to see Chad turning up alive later on. According to "Scream 6" writers James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick, it's all part of the secret theme behind the "Scream" franchise, allowing Chad to cheat death in two consecutive installments.
"We test every character dying in our heads at a certain point in time and go back and forth on certain ones. And so, you know, we definitely had a conversation about that with Chad, with everybody," Vanderbilt told Insider (via Yahoo). But a dead Chad just didn't seem to gel with the happy "Scream 6" ending the filmmakers intended.
Scream 6 co-director Tyler Gillett says the Scream is a 'secret feel-good' franchise
James Vanderbilt went on to quote filmmaker Tyler Gillett, who co-directed both 2022's "Scream" quasi-reboot as well as "Scream 6," on the hidden motif behind all the films in the series. "Tyler Gillett, one of the directors, talks about that they're meant to be secret feel-good movies at the end of the day," Vanderbilt explained.
According to Vanderbilt, in order to keep that tone consistent, Chad (Mason Gooding) couldn't die. "And we kind of felt like, you want to get off the roller coaster and you want to be smiling, not bummed and him not surviving at the end of the movie felt like a real ... Chad has cheated death once again. He was supposed to die in '5' and he didn't. And he made it through this. God bless him."
Some fans watching "Scream 6" might find that it stretches credibility for Chad to have survived the attack, but according to co-writer Guy Busick, the scene was actually adjusted to make it more survivable. "I believe, just a little bit of trivia, that some of the stabs were cut in post because there were several more stabs," Busick said. "But it was just too... It's already stretching credibility a bit. But all the stabs ... you would have really called foul, I think."
"Scream 6" is now available digitally, and arrives on DVD and Blu-ray on July 10.