Sam Carpenter in Scream: Who She Is and Who Plays Her

Sam Carpenter is the central final girl of the saga's second era, introduced in Scream (2022), directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and played by Melissa Barrera. She is billed first in both Scream (2022) and Scream VI, the clearest sign that the series moved its center of gravity from Sidney to her.

She is the estranged older sister of Tara Carpenter, and she returns to Woodsboro with her boyfriend Richie after a new Ghostface attacks Tara. What separates her from earlier survivors is a secret: she is the daughter of Billy Loomis, the killer from Scream (1996), played by Skeet Ulrich. In Scream (2022) she is also troubled by visions of Billy.

That parentage drives her stories. Sidney Prescott was hunted because of what happened to her mother, whereas Sam is suspected because of what her father was, and the films keep asking whether blood decides anything. If you want the wider cast around her, the scream characters page lists everyone who matters.

Sam's closest bond is with her sister, Tara Carpenter, and almost every choice she makes in both films is about keeping Tara alive. Tara is played by Jenna Ortega, and in both Scream (2022) and Scream VI the sisters are billed first (Sam) and second (Tara).

Her father is Billy Loomis, so she is tied to the original saga without ever having lived through the events of 1996. Her boyfriend Richie Kirsch, played by Jack Quaid, turns out to be a killer in Scream (2022), and Sam kills him. That act then becomes the motive for the killers of Scream VI.

Among her allies, Mindy and Chad Meeks-Martin stand beside her in both films. Among the legacy characters, Sidney Prescott and Gale Weathers help her in the first film, Gale returns in the second, and Kirby Reed, now an FBI agent, steps in near the end. In New York, Danny Brackett, played by Josh Segarra, walks off into the city with the sisters.

Sam Carpenter's best moment, in my opinion, is the finale of Scream VI, where she fights Wayne Bailey in her father's Ghostface costume. It is the cleanest image the new era has produced, because it turns the series' oldest worry, that Sam might inherit her father's violence, into a choice she makes on her own terms and then walks away from by dropping the mask.

A close second is the reveal in the house that once belonged to Stu Macher in Scream (2022). The set piece works because Amber and Richie planned to frame Sam, so the moment she kills Richie reads as relief rather than triumph. It could be argued that this scene also does the best job of stating the saga's rules for a new audience, since Amber and Richie act as fans who think they know how a good sequel should go.

Third, the quieter scene at the end of Scream VI, when Sam gives Tara more room, matters more than any kill. Perhaps it is the reason Sam works as a lead: she is allowed to change, which is rare in a franchise that so often leaves its survivors in the same place. Ranked against Sidney, Sam is the more guarded final girl, and I would put her below Sidney but ahead of most of the supporting survivors. For the full order, see scream movies ranked.