Scream 2022’s Big Death Was Perfectly Set Up By A Scream 2 Joke

Warning: SPOILERS for Scream (2022)!

Scream 2022 killed off Dewey Riley in a surprising twist after he survived so many other Ghostface killings, but the circumstances of his death were perfectly set up by a Scream 2 joke. One of the best-repeated gags in the Scream franchise is that the main characters refuse to die, with Sidney, Gale, and Dewey – before Scream 2022 – surviving countless stab wounds, gunshots, and brutal injuries that would have incapacitated anyone in the real world. Scream’s legacy characters’ ability to defy death has made them almost supernatural, so it was beginning to seem like none of the main characters could ever truly be killed by Ghostface.

While Randy Meeks, a returning legacy character from Scream, died in Scream 2 and Scream 4’s Judy Hicks died in Scream 2022, it’s been rare that multi-film characters are actually killed off in the franchise. Since it seems that iconic final girl Sidney Prescott will never die, Scream 2022 decided to kill off another beloved character: Dewey Riley. In a final stand against Ghostface, Dewey decided to go back into the hospital and take on Mikey Madison’s Scream 2022 killer Amber Freeman himself, only for her to jump back to life and stab Dewey enough times to make it clear that he had finally died. Dewey’s death was surprising considering the sheer amount of times he has miraculously survived, but a Scream 2 joke actually set up why he could no longer spring back to life.

At the end of Scream 2, Cotton Weary arrived just in time to save Sidney from Mrs. Loomis, with Gale Weathers also revealing herself to be alive after a gunshot wound. As Cotton saw Gale standing up with no indication of substantial harm, he joked that Gale has “more lives than a cat.” This line had seemingly predicted the survival rate of Scream’s returning main characters, as Dewey Riley revealed shortly before his death in Scream 2022 that he had been stabbed a total of nine times, the mythological number of lives that cats have. In a perfect setup from Scream 2’s offhand joke, Dewey Riley finally died when he was stabbed for the tenth time, suggesting Scream characters’ survival rates align with the legend of cats’ lives.

If Dewey’s death connecting back to the nine lives gripe by Cotton is any indication for Scream’s other characters, Sidney and Gale’s stories may soon be coming to an end if they continue to fight off Ghostface killers. Sidney was stabbed once in Scream 1996, left unscathed in Scream 2, shot three times in a bulletproof vest in Scream 3, stabbed twice in Scream 4, and stabbed once at the end of Scream 2022. Sidney has survived four stabbings so far, suggesting she has another five left before she succumbs to Dewey’s same fate. Gale has been shot twice and stabbed once in the Scream movies, so Courteney Cox’s character still has several wounds before her time comes.

While Cotton Weary’s joke about Gale having more lives than a cat may have unintentionally been prophetic for Dewey, it’s important in signaling that Sidney and Gale aren’t as invincible as the Scream movies suggest. A surprising amount of characters also survived in Scream 2022 aside from Sidney and Gale, including Sam and Tara Carpenter, and Chad and Mindy Meeks-Martin. If the new generation of Scream characters abide by the same teased survival rule, Tara may die soon, considering she was stabbed a total of seven times in the opening scene. Even if Scream 2’s gag wasn’t meant to indicate Dewey’s Scream 2022 death, it proves that the original characters’ oddly supernatural ability to stay alive doesn’t last forever.

About The Author

Jordan Williams
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Jordan Williams is a Movie/TV Feature Senior Staff Writer for Screen Rant. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 2020 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Media Studies.

Jordan is based in Seattle, Washington and enjoys exploring the natural beauty the PNW has to offer. She runs on coffee and classic movies, taking pride in having watched every film on AFI’s 100 Greatest Films list and every Best Picture Oscar winner.

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