Being a major character in a long-running horror franchise is virtually guaranteed to kill you at some point down the line. Sequels have a tendency to raise the stakes — and what could be a better way to do that than to kill a survivor from a previous film? The “Scream” series is a great example of this approach, especially since the laundry list of killers who don the Ghostface costume tend to have a fairly personal grudge against the people they attack.
Because of this, even major characters like Dewey Riley (David Arquette) who have been shown to survive serial killer after serial killer can suddenly fall victim to a surprise death scene a few movies into the game. (In Dewey’s case, he runs afoul of Ghostface in the 2022 “Scream” revival.) Sometimes, behind-the-scenes issues also affect a major character’s appearances, like when franchise star Neve Campbell turned town “Scream VI” due to the studio lowballing her with its contract offer.
Despite the sheer difficulty of surviving more than a few movies in the franchise, there are two actors who have managed to appear in all six installments of the “Scream” series. Let’s take a closer look at how both Courteney Cox and Roger L. Jackson came to appear in every “Scream” movie, from worst to best.
Courteney Cox’s Gale Weathers keeps ending up in the middle of serial killer situations
Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) is a survivor through and through, which is all the more impressive because narratively speaking, she should be one of the first targets for just about every Ghostface. Gale starts the series in the original 1996 “Scream” as an obnoxious and nosy reporter covering the Woodsboro murders and constantly getting on central protagonist Sidney Prescott’s (Campbell) case. This makes her precisely the kind of annoying character that, in so many other movies, would wander in the wrong place and meet her fate while receiving very little sympathy from the audience.
However, Gale is not your average horror film character. She shows more and more sympathetic traits, survives the movie, and keeps coming back. She writes books about the murders, befriends Sidney, marries and divorces Dewey, and carries over into the 2022 “Scream” relaunch and beyond. All of these roles offer ample encounters with various Ghostfaces and opportunities to perish horribly, but Gale still deftly (and sometimes barely) dodges the various grim fates horror movies usually reserve for a protagonist’s best friend, a fan-favorite character’s love interest, a celebrity target, or an easy sacrificial lamb for the franchise revival.
A true franchise workhorse and easily Cox’s best-known character after “Friends'” Monica Geller, Gale is a tried and tested subsister who’s seen far more carnage than most, but who still generally manages to be the adult in the room. The ending of “Scream VI” (2023) almost ends her streak when Quinn Bailey (Liana Liberato) critically wounds her. Despite this close call, the movie confirms that Gale survives her injuries, so don’t be shocked when Cox returns for more in “Scream 7.”
Roger L. Jackson is the one true constant in the Scream villain lore
“Do you like scary movies?” Ghostface is a rare killer who’s just as recognizable by their voice as they are is by their costume, which is impressive considering the sheer number of murderers who have donned the iconic robe and mask over the years. In-universe, the effect is accomplished with a voice modulation device that enables the various Ghostfaces to mask their real voices … and, from a franchise standpoint, maintain a semblance of continuity for the killer character. Behind the scenes, the effect is achieved by simply having the same guy voice Ghostface in every “Scream” movie.
The actor behind Ghostface’s unique sound is Roger L. Jackson, whose contribution to the series is such that he’s usually simply credited as “The Voice.” What’s more, he’s not just content to provide voice work in every “Scream” movie so far. His reach within the franchise blows every other “Scream” actor out of the water, since he also voices Ghostface in the 2019 “Scream” TV series, as well as various video games.
Being Ghostface’s voice actor might be Jackson’s best-known work, but he’s also done a vast variety of voice work for countless video games and animated TV shows. His most prominent non-“Scream” role is the voice of “The Powerpuff Girls” villain Mojo Jojo — which, if you compare the supervillain’s unique, accented monotone sound with Ghostface’s oily, threatening whisper, is really saying something about the extent of Jackson’s talent.
