Scream 3’s Original Script Had 2 Killers: Who They Were & Why It Changed

2000’s Scream 3 is the only film in the popular slasher franchise so far that only had a single Ghostface killer, but that wasn’t the original plan. In the slasher world, there tend to be two types of movies. There’s the kind where the killer is revealed early on and the characters eventually find out their backstory – such as Nightmare on Elm Street – or the kind – such as My Bloody Valentine – that’s essentially a whodunit with a reveal at the end. Of the latter type, Scream is arguably the greatest to ever be made.

While the original Scream movie is one of those horror films that gets just about everything right, a big part of what made it so memorable was the murder mystery aspect, where everyone outside of Sidney was a conceivable suspect. Then, a few plot turns happened which seemed to logically absolve certain characters of suspicion, only for the expert twist to hit at the end that there wasn’t just one killer, it was a duo of slashers.

Scream 2 also had two killers revealed at the end, as did Scream 4. The odd outlier is Scream 3, which revealed that Roman Bridger, director of the Stab 3 movie within a movie, was not only the killer, but Sidney’s long-lost half-brother. It turns out he was originally supposed to have help.

Scream 3 Originally Had 2 Killers: Who They Were & Why It Changed

In an early draft of Scream 3‘s script, Roman Bridger’s co-killer was none other than Angelina Tyler (Emily Mortimer), the ambitious actress cast as Sidney in Stab 3. She was Roman’s lover, and was revealed to actually be a former classmate of Sidney’s from Woodsboro named Angie Crick. While some might wonder why Sidney wouldn’t have recognized her, the average high school has hundreds, if not thousands of students, and it’s possible they never interacted. Anyway, Angie idolized Sidney, due to the amount of fame and attention she had received due to the murders surrounding her.

Dedicated Scream franchise fans will notice that Angie’s originally intended motivation is very reminiscent of the motive claimed by Jill Roberts, Sidney’s cousin, in Scream 4. As for why Angelina being the second killer in Scream 3 was scrapped, that’s not entirely clear. All those involved have said is that producers – one assumes meaning Dimension Films bosses Harvey and Bob Weinstein – didn’t like the idea, and demanded it be changed. In hindsight, they really should’ve left it in place, as there are several instances in which Roman would’ve needed to be in two places at once to kill everyone.

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