Sam Carpenter

Samantha Carpenter (preferably known as Sam) is the protagonist of Scream 5 (2022) and will re-appear in Scream 6 (2023). She is portrayed by Melissa Barrera.

She is the older sister of Tara Carpenter and ex-girlfriend of Richie Kirsch. She is also the biological daughter of teenage serial killer, Billy Loomis. Correspondingly, this makes her the paternal granddaughter of copycat serial killer, Nancy Loomis as well.

Sam was a former resident of Woodsboro, California who found out a dark secret of her birth which caused her legal father to leave and sent her down a rabbit hole of drugs and crime, much to the dismay of Judy Hicks who Sam would babysit the son of. After realising the town was no good for her, she picked up and left at age 18 (almost 19), without even saying goodbye to her mother or sister.

In 2021, Sam was forced to return to Woodsboro 5 years later when she learned that Tara had been attacked by the Ghostface killer. Now 24, she returned to town with her boyfriend and joined forces with Dewey Riley, Gale Weathers and Sidney Prescott, to stop the new killer. In the end, the killer is revealed to be Richie and Amber Freeman whom she is able to kill, cementing herself as the new Woodsboro final girl.

Early life
Samantha was conceived 1996, shortly before or during the Woodsboro Murders. The result of an affair Christina Carpenter had behind her high school sweetheart and eventual husband's back.

Samantha is born to Christina Carpenter in 1997, after her father Billy Loomis' death. Her father proposed to her mother senior year, believing he was the father. About five years later, her mother became pregnant again and gave birth to her younger half-sister, Tara Carpenter, her legal father, Mr. Carpenter's first biological child, unbeknownst to him at the time.

Truth of Parentage
One day when she was 13, she searched the attic for Christmas gifts. This led to her finding her mother's old diaries which revealed that she was in fact the daughter of  Billy Loomis, the original Woodsboro Ghostface killer.

Sam was shocked by this revelation and demanded an explanation from her mother, unaware that her father was listening and as a result of the confrontation, he left the family in anger.

Troubled Teen Babysitter and Abandoning Woodsboro
She moved to Modesto, California and got a job in a bowling alley. Six months prior to the fifth film, she began a relationship with Richie Kirsch. Sam would take antipsychotic medication to cope with the truth or her parentage. Despite the medication, she would still suffer hallucinations of her birth father.

After the discovery of who her father was, Sam descended down a rabbit hole of drugs and crime, drawing the attention of Woodsboro Sheriff Deputy Judy Hicks (later Sheriff) who’s son Wes she used to babysit, along with Chad and Mindy Meeks-Martin, the twin niece and nephew of Randy Meeks. When she turned 18 Sam decided to leave Woodsboro, abandoning her mother and sister.

2021 Woodsboro Legacy Killings
25 years since the Woodsboro Murders ended with the deaths of its perpetrators, Billy Loomis and Stu Macher, a new killer has emerged.

Five years after leaving town, Sam's sister Tara is attacked by Ghostface, Wes Hicks calls Sam to inform her and Sam makes the decision, with Richie, to return to Woodsboro. They immediately go to see Tara in the hospital, to the welcome and dismay from others, and Sam apologizes to Tara for leaving her and agrees to stay in town.

Later on, Sam is taking a break at the hospital and when she looks in the mirror she hallucinates a vision of Billy Loomis who taunts her for unknown reasons. Sam's phone rings and when she answers it's the Killer who claims to know her secret. Ghostface jumps out from behind the door and tries to attack her, however she is able to escape and she then reveals to Tara the reason she left town, when she was 13 she founds their mother's diaries which reveal that her father wasn't her father, and rather she is the daughter of Billy Loomis, whom her mother slept with in high school. After finding this information, she demanded an answer from her mother, unaware that her father was listening, and as a result he left them all. Tara gets angry at Samantha for this and demands she leave.

Sam decides they need an expert to help them and she and Richie visit Dewey Riley who gives them two minutes with him. He explains the rules of surviving these attacks and then kicks them out of his house. However he later has a change of heart and joins Sam and Richie and the Meeks-Martin house, where the rest of Tara’s friends have gathered.

Dewey introduces the teens to Stab and the history of Billy and Stu and they attempt to figure out the connection between the Killer and Samantha. Mindy, who has the same traits as her uncle, deduces that the Killer is attempting to create a "Requel" - a reboot / sequel - to Stab 8, which at that point is just called Stab, which received poor reviews amongst fans and is a generally hated sequel. They realise the Killer is probably a Stab fan who is using Sam and Tara to make the movie. They are using Tara and her friends as the new generation and using Sam's connection to Billy Loomis as a way to weave the legacy characters, Sidney, Dewey and Gale, into the story. Sam gets angry when she is accused of being the Killer, and flees. As she drives, she has another hallucination of Billy and just narrowly avoids a fatal car accident.

After Judy and Wes are killed, Sam arrives on the scene and learns about their deaths. A news van pulls up, and a woman approaches Samantha looking for information. It is revealed that it's Gale Weathers. Sam then spots Deputy Vinson at the crime scene, despite the fact that he should be watching Tara at the hospital and she races back to save her sister, with Dewey joining her. They are able to distract the Killer long enough to catch him off guard, however Dewey sends the sisters away and prepares to kill Ghostface once and for all, resulting in his own death.

Sam decides it's time to leave Woodsboro and ignores Sidney Prescott's request for help. Along the way, Tara realizes she forgot her inhaler and they stop at Amber's house to get another one, unaware that Amber's house is 261 Turner Lane, Stu Macher's old house. They arrive in time to interrupt Ghostface as he's trying to kill Chad Meeks-Martin and they call the party off.

After Mindy is attacked, an argument breaks out amongst the group resulting in Amber Freeman unmasking herself as one of the killers. Richie and Sam flee to the basement to hide and Richie deduces that Tara may be the other killer, resulting in Sam abandoning him. She finds Tara tied up upstairs and hesitates to untie her. Sidney and Gale arrive at the house and it's finally revealed that the other killer is none other than Richie.

He and Amber reveal that they are trying to make a new Stab movie after the fail of Stab 8 and they are pinning Sam as the killer, as she is the daughter of Billy Loomis. Amber goes to grab Tara so they can finish her off together however it is revealed that Sam did untie her and Tara taunts them with a phone call. Amber looks for Tara who jumps out and attacks her. Samantha then fights Richie as Amber returns to the kitchen where Sidney and Gale gang up on her.

Sidney and Gale kill Amber by setting her on fire, and Samantha repeatedly stabs Richie and then slits his throat, killing him. Sidney warns her that the Killer always comes back, so Samantha shoots him three times. A burnt Amber comes running at them from the kitchen with a kitchen knife and Tara shoots her through the head, finally killing her.

Outside, Tara, Mindy and a still alive Chad are taken to hospital and Sam thanks Gale and Sidney for their help. Samantha asks Sidney if she will be alright. Sidney knowing she will endure similar things she went through replies to her with a slight smile saying, "Eventually." As Sam prepares to leave in the ambulance with Tara, she hallucinates Billy standing behind her once more, indicating that he still is, and will continue to, haunt her.