We know about Billy Loomis’ legacy, but does Stu Macher have ties to ‘Scream 6’?

Paramount Pictures is set to release its latest installment in the Scream slasher franchise with Scream 6, coming out on March 10 in theaters. The studio and directors Radio Silence rebooted the franchise in 2020 and released Scream 5 last year with positive reception.

The plot of the last movie centered around Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera), the estranged daughter of one of the original killers, Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich). In Scream 5, Sam has visions of her dead father, mainly alluding to a “darkness” inside her. The new writers/directors wanted to bring back the past, and what many know is that Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard in Scream) had perhaps a bigger connection to Scream 5. We will go over those connections and what role the Macher family may have in Scream 6.

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Scream history

In the original film, Stu Macher is the other killer, a friend, and an accomplice of Loomis. The initial motive is from Loomis, whose father cheated on his mother with Sidney Prescott’s mother, Maureen. She was murdered a year before the events of Scream, allegedly by Macher and Loomis. Loomis reveals this to Sidney in the final act of Scream. Still, we later find out that Roman Bridger (Scott Foley), Sidney’s half-brother and the killer in Scream 3, is the one who actually murdered Maureen Prescott, also known by her stage name Rina Reynolds. I hope that all wasn’t too confusing – moving along.

Sidney kills Macher in the final act of the original movie after she hits him with a pot and pushes a television on top of him. Despite being mentioned here and there throughout the franchise, Stu doesn’t appear meaningfully until Scream 5.

In Scream 5, there are mentions of Macher but more connections within the cast and set. Vince Schneider, played by Kyle Gallner in the movie, is one of the early victims of Ghostface (Amber and Richie). Schneider is the nephew of Stu Macher, the son of Leslie Macher, Stu’s older sister. Amber mentions this fact for a reason in the middle of Scream 5. Amber’s family also purchases the old Macher residence, the site of both the original killings and the final act in Scream 5. The writers/directors are clearly bringing in characters and references connected to Stu for a reason.

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Macher connection to Scream 6

Now that brings us to the upcoming movie and what connections this cast and characters may have to Macher. Most of this is just theorized, so don’t take this as concrete information. But knowing that Leslie Macher exists and she has a family, we can safely assume Vince Schneider had a father who may be involved this time around after his son was slain in the last movie. One character who could be linked is played by Henry Czerny, who was also in the Radio Silence-directed movie Ready or Not. That movie also stars Samara Weaving, who plays Laura in Scream 6.

Weaving and Czerny are interesting. He’s playing Dr. Christopher Stone, so assuming he’s a professor at the college the kids attend. It also could mean he is essential, and the directors don’t want us to know something. Weaving and Czerny could be connected to Macher in some way. Laura could be the sister of Vince Schneider and the daughter of Czerny and Leslie Macher. Czerny could also be the grandfather of Laura and Stu and Leslie Macher’s father, out for revenge years after Sidney killed his son.

There’s enough motive to eliminate Sam as well. She’s the illegitimate daughter of Billy Loomis, the main reason why Stu is dead in the first place. Had Billy not influenced Stu to help him in the original killings, Stu might still be alive. Again, these are only theories, but it would set us up for some Loomis-Macher showdown either in Scream 6 or the next movie.

I went over this a bit in my handicapping of the Scream 6 killer piece, but Weaving makes sense as the killer (or the opening scene kill), and Czerny played a pretty psychopathic character in Ready or Not. This could be the first time we see more than two killers in a Scream movie. We see Ghostface Theater in the trailers quite a bit. It feels like it may take more than two people to maintain a space like that, a shrine to every Scream killer.