Sidney Prescott

"You're forgetting one thing about Billy Loomis. (...) I fucking killed him!"

- Sidney to Mickey

"You forgot the first rules of remakes Jill, Don't fuck with the original!"

- Sidney's last words to Jill, before shooting her to death

Sidney Prescott is the main protagonist of the Scream franchise.

She is portrayed by Neve Campbell, who also played Kiara.

Background
Sidney was a regular teenage girl in Woodsboro, California. She dated a popular boy, Billy Loomis, having great friends and had a good relationship with her parents. Also, her best friend was Tatum Riley, a feisty, popular girl.

One day, she returned home and found her mother brutally murdered after she thought she saw Cotton Weary leaving the house. Her testimony was key in his trial, which made her a national figure. Due to the death of her mother, she has many repressed feelings and trauma. Throughout the series and many attacks, she slowly becomes stronger by coping and surviving the traumatic ordeals in her life. By Scream 3 and 4, she is shown as an incredibly formidable survivor and has even been able to physically counter-attack Ghostface.

Scream
Closing on the one year anniversary of Maureen's murder, Sidney was a typical withdrawn teenager. However, she was a bit repressed due to her mother's death.

After the reporters widely publicize the nighttime deaths of her schoolmate acquaintances, Casey Becker and Steven Orth, Sidney begins to think about her mother's death as familiar feelings return with the news reporters all around. After getting home from school, Sidney is getting ready to spend a few nights at her best friend, Tatum Riley's house since her father, Neil Prescott, will be out of town on business.

She is on the balcony of her house and on the phone with Tatum planning the stay at her house. As she hangs up, she looks over the horizon of her house with looks and feelings of unsafety as she locks the door behind herself. In an attempt to kill time waiting for Tatum's practice to be over, she tries to watch TV but the news report by Gale Weathers brings up what happened to her mother. She flicks the TV off and goes to the other room to rest. She looks at the clock and at a picture of her with her mother. With all of this on her mind, she finally decides to take a power nap.Because Tatum's practice ran late, Sidney was not picked up as scheduled. Tatum calls to apologize, which wakes Sidney up from her nap, and promises she's on her way. During this time, Ghostface calls Sidney at home and harasses her before attacking her.

She defends herself and races up to her bedroom. Blocking the killer from entering the room by using her bedroom door and closet door, she attempts to call the police through her computer. The killer mysteriously disappears and Billy comes through her window (as he did the previous night when the murders occurred) to her rescue. As she goes to him for comfort, a cell phone slips from his pocket. This causes Sidney to believe that it was Billy who called her and, assuming that he tried to kill her, she runs downstairs to find Dewey Riley and the cops outside the front door. Billy is hauled off by the police as a suspect and is questioned. Sidney, extremely traumatized by the evening's events, is taken in by the police to explain what happened and find the whereabouts of her father. When it's time to leave, Gale finds Sidney and presses the issue of what happened that night Tatum rebukes her on sight and pushes the microphone from away Sidney saying, "She's not answering any questions, Alright? Just leave us alone. Sidney then tells Tatum, "No, No Tatum, it's okay. She is just doing her job, aren't you Gale?" at which gives her a fake smile and Tatum glares at Gale with rebuke. Sidney asks her, "How's the book?" which Gale replies, "It'll be out later this year." Sidney replies in hidden discontent, "I'll look for it." and attempts to walk away. Gale replies thinking Sidney was genuinely concerned, "I'll send you a copy." Sidney turns around with a right hook punching Gale into her own cameraman's arm which another officer assist in catching her. Gale holds her face and looks up to see the truth through her eyes of how much the attack affected her and the determination this teenaged girl yields. This is the first glimpse we get of the survivor Sidney truly is.

The killer calls her once more at Tatum's house and reveals to her that she has "fingered the wrong guy...again!" Then he promises she will find out who he is soon enough and hangs up.

The news of her attack is around the city. It reaches her high school where a few of her peers don't take her attack seriously. Because of her mother's affirmed bad reputation, some students think she is trying to receive more attention from the public. She confronts Gale about Cotton Weary, the man convicted of murdering her mother. Gale was one who went against Sidney's allegations towards Cotton. After their heated discussion about who killed her mother, Gale replies, "You're not so sure anymore, are you?" Sidney begins to show strong emotions through her eyes, but says nothing. It is apparent, the phone call from the killer had made her think otherwise and she wanted to find closure and certain confirmation from Gale Weathers. Tatum comes and persuades her to go to class. Sidney vaguely apologizes for hitting her.

After she and Billy have a fall out about their mothers, Sidney overhears a few schoolgirls gossiping about her in the girl's bathroom. She hides in a stall so they don't know she's there, listening to one snobbish cheerleader call her mother a tramp while the other, more or less, entertained it. After they leave, she is emotionally disturbed and upset, but still in constant wonder of the truth about her mother. She hears noises which she regards it as the air hissing from the air vent. Then again, she hears a voice whispering "Sidney...." She looks under the stalls to find no feet present, but the noise continue. The door to a far end stall begins to open at which she races to the door. Ghostface leaps out from the stall and chases her out. She apparently goes to the principle upset and they take immediate action of the situation. The school announces that classes are suspended until further notice and that the town has issued a 9pm curfew. Stu Macher, Tatum's boyfriend, arranges a party for "intimate friends", although more than that show up. At the party, Tatum is sent by Stu to get more beer from the garage where the killer attacks her and kills her.

Soon after, Billy comes over and requests to talk with Sidney alone which she consent. Stu arranges them to talk in his parent's room away from the commotion. He attempts to apologize, but Sidney reciprocates with her apology and owning up to her faults. They have a tender moment about movies; Billy believing it's all a great big movie and Sidney wishing she can be a Meg Ryan Movie or even "a good porno" looking into Billy's eyes. He asks, "Are you sure?" She replies gently, "Yeah. I think so."

Sidney and Billy have sex, the remaining guests are intrigued to find out their principal had been killed as well and flee to see his corpse. After they leave, Billy is "killed" and Sidney is chased once more by the killer. She finds Tatum dead and makes it to the news van where Gale's cameraman, Kenny, is. After safely getting inside the van, she sees that Randy Meeks is in danger from Ghostface by seeing the view of the camera Gale planted to record the events of the party. Kenny gets out of the van with the intention of helping Randy but gets his throat slashed by the killer. Sidney escapes the van and runs for help.

After trying to get Gale's attention as she's driving, she ends up sending Gale off the road and the van crashes. Sidney then goes in search of Dewey. She finds him stabbed in the back with the killer right behind him. Sidney tries to escape in Dewey's police car but unfortunately, the killer took Dewey's keys. She locks up the car to prevent the killer from entering and uses the police radio quickly to report that she's under attack at Stu's house and gives the address. Whether this was received or not is unknown. The killer comes in through the trunk and Sidney once again narrowly escapes with the killer mysteriously disappearing again. Then, out of nowhere, Randy hysterically calls for Sidney so they can escape together. Stu appears from the other side and accuses Randy of killing Billy. Randy, in defense, accuses Stu. Sidney trusts no one at this moment as she grabs for Dewey's pistol. She locks them out of the house. Once inside, Sidney sees her surviving boyfriend and rushes to his side. Being under the impression he had to be innocent since he was supposedly attacked, she handed the gun to him. Randy rushed in exclaiming, "Stu's flipped out! He's gone mad!" Billy replies, "We all go a little mad sometimes." before he shoots Randy in the shoulder, seemingly killing him. Soon after, Stu has found his way in the through back. Sidney goes to him for help but Stu pulls out the killer's voice changer and says, "Surprise Sidney". It is revealed that Stu and Billy are the killers and they have held her father captive in order to frame him for the murders.

They reveal their master plan to Sidney and reveal that they also killed her mother the year before. Gale interrupts them but unfortunately, she didn't remove the safety from the gun and is overpowered by Billy. Sidney swiftly hides herself and her father in order to buy time. She dresses as Ghostface and schemes against them. Billy, incredibly pissed off that his plan has gone awry, looks for her. As he comes to the closet, Sidney rams him into the wall with an umbrella. This causes him to release the gun. Then she stabs him once more with the umbrella and he is knocked unconscious.

Stu comes running out of the kitchen and knocks her to the ground. Then he says, "I always had a thing for ya, Sid!" Sidney subdues him by smashing a vase over his head. She pushes a TV onto his head electrocuting him. Sidney walks into the other room to find Randy surprisingly alive but is attacked by her surviving boyfriend who has come to. He attempts to strangle her as he says, "Say hello to your mother." Sidney uses her finger to cause more pain from the wound by the umbrella. After that, he tried to stab her only to be shot by a conscious Gale Weathers. Sidney, Gale, and Randy gather around Billy's body as Randy warns them he may return to life. Billy opens his eyes and lets out a grunt. Sidney shoots him in the head once, killing him.

In the end, Sid's father is rescued. Sidney, Dewey, Gale and Randy survive. Gale does a report in the morning telling the events of the previous night.

Scream 2
In Scream 2, Sidney is trying to get over the events of the first movie and is attending Windsor College with her surviving friend from high school, Randy, her new friends, Hallie and Mickey, as well as her new boyfriend, Derek.

However, now someone's taking their love of sequels one step too far. With the murders in Woodsboro made public by a movie called Stab in theaters, the killings start again with a couple that were Windsor senior students getting murdered while at the premiere of the movie.

Once Sidney hears of the murders on the news the next morning, she begins to sense danger once again. The irony of it all is that she is majoring in acting and yet in Scream 3, she finds out about her mom's acting past.

The first three murders seem to be copycat killings due to the names matching her mother and the first two victims from her high school. The victims' names were Maureen Evans copying her mother's name, Phil Stevens copying Steven Orth's name, and Cici Cooper, Cici being short for "Casey", copying Casey Becker's name.

After the seemingly duplicated murders, the killer goes for Sidney, signifying the ultimate goal is finish what Billy and Stu started. After a phone call from Ghostface and an attack at a sorority party, Sidney is placed under the protection of two detectives.

In a Drama Class, Ghostface tries to kill Sidney but failed. Shortly after that, Randy is brutally murdered by the killer. The two detective bodyguards decide to take Sidney and Hallie to a safehouse, but on the way they are attacked by the killer, and he kills the two detective bodyguards and tries to dive the car, but crushing into the wall knocking himself out. Sidney and Hallie climb out from the car successfully, but the killer suddenly rises and stabs Hallie four times in the chest, killing her.

Sidney is confronted by Ghostface in a school theatre, where Derek is hanged him on the stage in the auditorium.tied up and the killer is revealed as Mickey.

As Sidney goes to untie him, Mickey Altieri, who at this time has revealed himself as the killer, tells her that Derek was his accomplice in the murders, which is a lie. However, it makes her panic and distract her long enough, for Mickey to shoot him in the heart. Mortally wounded, Derek tells Sidney he would never hurt her, and dies.

After killing Derek, Mickey tells Sidney he wants to become famous in the ensuing trial and to blame slasher movies for his actions. He then introduces his accomplice, Debbie Salt, who Sidney recognizes as Debbie Loomis, the mother of Billy. Debbie is vengeful toward Sidney and conducted the spree to have revenge. Debbie then shoots Mickey down and explains that she intends to have Mickey appear as the sole killer. Sidney tries to escape, but Debbie corners her and presses a long knife blade against her throat. Cotton Weary then arrives and holds both Sidney and Debbie at gunpoint.

Debbie tried to sway Cotton to shoot Sidney instead of her, and it's seemed like Cotton nearly gave in. However,Sidney agreed to doing an interview with Cotton that she had previously rejected, taking Debbie by surprise. Cotton shot Debbie in the windpipe, revealing he never intended to hurt Sidney.

Gale then turned up alive, having been shot by Mickey previously. Gale and Cotton wondered if Debbie would spring to life, like Billy did. Sidney was unsure, as "they always do". They were all forgetting about Mickey. As they focused on Debbie, Mickey jumped to his feet, screaming. Gale and Sidney shot Mickey many times until he did a backflip and hit the ground, dead.

Sidney then shot Debbie in the head(who was already likely dead), and Cotton and Gale looked at her with shock. Sidney replied, "Just in case". As they left, Sidney was swarmed by reporters, but she told them to get the story from Cotton, who wanted to become more famous, adding that he was the real hero of the story. As Cotton told the reporters his side of the story. Then, Sidney walked across the college campus.

Scream 3
After having been attacked by 4 psychos, Sidney decides to go into hiding and is living up in the mountains to avoid being attacked again. Unfortunately for her, a new killer has other plans. After two cast members of Stab 3 were killed during production, including Cotton Weary and his girlfriend, the movie is shut down.

Sidney is a counselor at her home going by the name Laura. She speaks to someone over the phone who is upset because she killed someone, Sidney urges her to ring the police as they'll help but the woman insists it's her she needs to speak to. Immediately, Sidney begins to recognize the voice, and is shocked when she realizes that it is her mother's voice. The voice then turns to the known Ghostface who wants her to turn on the news where she sees news reporters talking about the death of Cotton Weary and cast members and they hope the killings are over, Ghostface's voice asks her if she thinks the killings are over. Sidney races to her drawer and gets her gun and loads it, before walking to her window, only to find it open. That night, Sidney suffers a nightmare of Maureen standing outside of the window, watching her. Realizing that she is no safer in her mountain cabin than anywhere else, she decides to meet up with Dewey and Gale.

Later, after Dewey and Gale are attacked at Jennifer's house, she is united with them at the police station where she meets Kincaid who has been trying to location her whereabouts. She discovers Detective Kincaid has pictures her mother as evidence for the murders. She agrees to go with them to the studios where the pictures were taken over twenty-five years ago. They run into Martha Meeks whom is Randy's (Sidney's high school and college friend that fell victim to the Windsor College Murders) younger sister. She had a tape from them because of Randy's expertise in the sequel knowing Sidney will have survive and need advice later. After the video and goodbye to Martha, Gale goes on to get more answers while Dewey and Sidney wait outside.

Sidney uses the bathroom briefly and hears a close noise and she bends down and sees somebody's black boots, she turns around as if she's walking out but spins around and kicks the stall door open and she see's Angelina Tyler, who was playing her in Stab 3. She sees a creased Ghostface mask on the floor and picks it up but Angelina tells her, she took it as a souvenir as it's unlikely she'll ever win a role like this and says her wish, is that it could've worked out for her.

Angelina leaves the bathroom but Sidney notices she's left her hairbrush, she grabs it and calls her name and walks out of the bathroom. From the bathroom, she walks into the studio which is an exact replica of Woodsboro, Sidney sees the dog flap bringing back horrid memories of Tatum and the past. She goes inside her set house into her staged bedroom, she hears a noise from outside and locks her doors like she does in the first film.

She is dragged out of the window (obviously forgetting Billy often came through her window before) of the bedroom onto the floor where she engages in a fight with Ghostface, she manages to escape his grasp and she screams help, she rushes into the front door, locks it and looks out the window but Ghostface emerges from the set closet, attacking her, she dodges his attack and flees upstairs much like her original encounter with Ghostface (Stu Macher). She is stopped by "that voice". That voice she remembered as her mother's telling her to seek refuge with her. She then goes into her mother's room to see horrid memories of her mother's mutilated body while hearing "her mother's voice" now being contrary to protecting her forcing her to remember times where she did not speak up for her mother (in regards to how Billy, Stu, and many others demonized her). She then scarily proposes that Sidney and her "kiss and make up". Sidney tearfully scared and traumatized once again shouts, "No!!!" knowing that it is not her mother and the killer playing a sinister trick on her mind. She later falls out the house window where Dewey and the detectives come to her aid, she breaks down claiming she saw her mother in the house. She is taken to the police station for protection.

After that, she remains at the police station with Mark Kincaid. Meanwhile Roman is having his birthday get together with the cast the remains alove at John Milton's residence. Gale and Dewey decide to go there because "She" told them she was going to meet John and get the truth about her mother. They go there to find out she actually is not there and find it strange. Then they see that it was a setup and Sidney's voice was used to decieve them. The killer strikes killing cast members, Angelina, Tyson and Jennfier are mudered and Dewey and Gale are captured and held captive by the killer. The killer calls her at the police station using Gale and Dewey as bait. She goes to John Milton's house to confront the killer and save her friends.

She takes 2 guns, throws one in the pool while the other is used against Ghostface, and wears a bulletproof vest. After a short chase scene that leads Sidney to a hidden theater in the mansion, the killer reveals himself to be Roman Bridger, the who was directing Stab 3 and Sidney's long lost half-brother from her mother's side. He reveals that he's behind her mother's murder and is therefore responsible for everything that has happened in the last 2 movies. After that, they fight. After a grueling battle and with some scars Sidney defeats him. However, he's still alive so Dewey has to kill him shooting him in the head. In the end, she is seen in her house (no longer keeping it under lock, key, and alarm) with Dewey, Gale, and Kincaid.

Scream 4
In Scream 4, Sidney goes back to Woodsboro to promote her new book titled Out of Darkness, chronicling the things she has suffered in the past three films. It is an attempt to reconstruct herself after living her life as a victim for so long. The source of inspiration behind the book was the death of her father, who died after the events of Scream 3 from a heart attack. Unfortunately for Sidney, the murders of two teenage girls happen the night before she arrives and things just get worse from there. Sidney is also there to reunite with the now married Gale and Dewey Riley, her estranged cousin, Jill Roberts, and her aunt, Kate, who is her dead mother's sister.

Jill and her friends, Kirby Reed and Olivia Morris, are on their way to school when Olivia asks Jill if she's seen the Angel of Death, a nickname she's given to Sidney. Jill makes a comment that she doesn't even know her cousin.

While promoting her book, the police trace a phone to the trunk of Sidney's rental car where they find the blood of the teenaged victims, Jenny and Marnie.

That night, she is staying in her aunt's house, which has police protection, when she hears Jill and Kirby screaming. She runs to Jill's room and looks out the window where she sees Ghostface attacking Olivia next door. Sidney hesitates for only a moment, horrified at the fact that this is all happening again after she's finally moving on, then runs outside to get the police. She sees they're not in their car so she breaks into Olivia's house with the intention of helping. However, she realizes she's too late when she gets upstairs, sees Olivia's brutalized body with blood all over the room, and the killer gone.

The killer takes this opportunity to call Olivia's phone, knowing Sidney will answer. He informs her she's part of his new idea of a remake and she will die when he wants her to. After the call, Jill comes in looking for her but Sidney prevents her from seeing her friend's dead body. With watery eyes, Jill said to Sidney, "She said you were the Angel of Death." Right after, Ghostface comes out from a room behind Jill and attacks them. He slices Jill's arm before Sidney pounces on the killer, sending them both down the stairs. She manages to fight him off and knock him to the ground but when Hoss and Perkins enter the house, he disappears out the back door.

The police and ambulance finally arrive. She is verbally attacked by neighbors while standing outside Olivia's house, with people telling her she is just like her mother and it is her fault that the murders are happening. Jill apologizes for her poor choice of words and asks her if she wants to get her wounds checked out.

After going to the hospital, Sidney's publicist, Rebecca, abruptly and inconsiderately makes her offers while ignoring the reality of her situation. Offended, Sidney fires her instantly. In bad karma, the killer calls Rebecca and asks for Sidney. Rebecca says Sidney is unavailable and that she's screening her calls. The killer cleverly harasses her in the hospital's parking garage before finally attacking and killing her.

Throughout the movie, Gale attempts to solve the murders in order to have something to report. Even bringing herself and Sidney to the Woodsboro Cinema Club to figure out how much this generation's horror films have changed from the originals.

Jill is put on a strict curfew by her mother which she eventually disobeys and goes to Kirby's house after the infamous Stab-a-thon party is cancelled. Sidney gets a call from Ghostface, who tells her it's the family ties that cut deep, and immediately goes to check Jill's room only to find it empty. She sees an instant message on Jill's computer saying Kirby is picking her up. Kate comes in and after Sidney informs her that Jill is gone, they go to leave the house. The killer attacks them and claims Kate's life. Sidney runs into Deputy Hicks and tells her of the causality. Deputy Hicks sees the body and reports it over her police radio. As she attempts to apologize about the casualty of her aunt to Sidney, Hicks realizes she is gone.

In the climax of the movie, it's revealed that Jill Roberts and Charlie Walker are the killers, the former wanting to gain fame and wealth by appearing as a survivor and the latter just being a nerdy psycho-killer in love with Jill. Their plan was to set up Trevor Sheldon, Jill's ex-boyfriend, as the killer. In the end, he is betrayed by Jill. Her plan all along was to "remake" Scream 1 with "Trevor and Charlie" as "Billy and Stu" since everybody really loves a sole survivor.

Jill is attempting to re-enact Sidney's story and she manages to stab Sidney twice in the stomach. Believing Sidney to be dying and no longer a problem, she inflicts damage to herself to appear as if she fought off Charlie and Trevor in the same way Sidney fought off Billy and Stu.

Sidney survives from her wounds and is placed in the Intensive Care Unit where she is attacked again and nearly killed by her psychotic cousin after Dewey makes the mistake of informing Jill that the doctors believe Sidney will survive. After an epic battle between Jill, Sidney, Dewey, Gale and Judy, Sidney manages to kill Jill with fully charged defibrillator paddles to the head, thanks to Gale distracting her, and shooting a single bullet into her chest. Gale goes to get doctors to help Dewey and Sidney while Sidney lies down next to her cousin's corpse and says, "I don't know about you but I feel a whole lot better."

The movie ends with journalists outside the hospital speaking of Jill Roberts as the survivor of the Woodsboro killing spree, without knowing she's the killer behind it all. These news stories fulfill Jill's goal, after she dies, giving her the fame she killed for, until Sidney, Gale, Dewey and Judy told everyone the truth. They all realized Jill is actually the mastermind behind the killing spree and confirmed her to be the new generation of Billy Loomis.

Abilities

 *  Intelligence:  Sidney is a very intelligent teenager and young woman, which makes her unique. Unlike the other women in the Scream franchise, she seems to be the only one who knows what to do whenever confronting the Ghostface killer and therefore take him/her down.
 *  Weapons Expert:  Whenever encountering an enemy with weapons who in her case is the Ghostface killer, Sidney shows to have a pretty good idea on how to fire a gun and use a knife. She also has the use of other weapons as well.
 *  Strategist:  Not just the damsel in distress, Sidney also has a way of thinking one step ahead of her enemies and therefore looks for the best ways in either to preserve herself and her friends or to take down her enemies when it seems like all hope is lost.

Trivia

 * She was described as "a young girl of 17...Sharp and clever with deep, lonely eyes" in the Scream script.
 * She was described as "Two years older has brought a maturity to this beautiful young woman. Her face poses a maturity to this beautiful young woman. Her face poses a survivor's edge. Stronger and more determined, she appears to have weathered the storm" in the Scream 2 script.
 * She was described as "the stoic, survivor. Now 24" in the Scream 3 script. The age is a mistake.
 * 80s staple actress Molly Ringwald was offered the role of Sidney. She turned it down, stating at the time that she wasn't about to be a 27 year old playing a high school student.
 * Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon also turned down the role of Sidney Prescott.
 * Actress Brittany Murphy was considered for the role of Sidney.
 * Drew Barrymore was originally cast as Sidney Prescott but Barrymore insisted that if she played Casey, it would make the audience think that anything could happen.
 * Melissa Joan Hart, Alicia Witt, Melanie Lynskey and Melinda Clarke all auditioned for the role of Sidney Prescott.