Cotton Weary

Cotton Weary is a character in the original Scream trilogy. He was portrayed by Liev Schreiber.

Biography
Cotton had an affair with Maureen Prescott, the mother of Scream heroine Sidney Prescott. He was wrongly convicted for her murder prior to the events in Scream and sentenced to death thanks to the erroneous testimony of Sidney and the manipulations of Billy Loomis and Stu Macher. He was released between Scream and Scream 2 thanks to Gale Weathers and the exposure of Billy's and Stu's actions by Sidney. In Scream 2 he came to see Sidney, because he wanted redemption in the eyes of everyone for what happened and felt, that Sidney owed him that much for her erroneous testimony. During the final confrontation during the killing spree he saved Sidney´s life by shooting Mrs. Loomis, who had presented herself as Debbie Salt to him and others. Sidney later shot her in the head, finally killing her. She thanked him by fulfilling his wish and makes him the hero of the events surrounding the second killing spree, so that he could move forward in his life in peace.

In Scream 3 it is revealed that he has a good life in Hollywood. During the opening of the film Cotton is seen in his house trying to safe himself and the life of his girlfriend from Ghostface. After not wanting to reveal Sidney's whereabouts, both Cotton and his girlfriend are killed.