Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard, who played killers Billy and Stu in Scream (1996), were two of the guests at the Scream 30th anniversary panel at the Midsummer Scream convention.
When asked about the long-debated topic among fans about whether Billy or Stu was responsible for Tatum’s demise, Ulrich said, “To be honest, not even Kevin Williamson knows who killed [Tatum]. And he wrote the damn thing. . .We never discussed it.”
Lillard added his own theory, saying he thought Stu offed Tatum because “she said ‘no’ to going to prom.”
There have been debates, think-pieces, and entirely-too-long videos dedicated to the question of which Ghostface killed not just Tatum, but many of the victims throughout the Scream franchise. Sometimes the answer is clear, but many times it isn’t. And like Skeet Ulrich said at Midsummer Scream, screenwriter Kevin Williamson didn’t necessarily write the movie with a definite idea of who slashed whom in any given scene. He’s said this numerous times before, that for many victims in the series there is no answer to which specific Ghostface killed them.
Tatum seems to be one of the more debated victims though, and it’s fun to try to work out whether Billy or Stu is the more likely culprit. In your mind, who do you think did it?
When I first watched Scream 30 years ago, I thought Billy did it. It made the most sense to me since Stu is the party host, and Billy doesn’t show himself at the party until right after Tatum’s demise. But when you think about it, it really could be either one of them. Stu could have followed Tatum (he did send her to the garage to get drinks, after all), or Billy could have been hiding somewhere waiting for Tatum to isolate herself (because it definitely appears to be a planned attack). Even though I know there is no factual answer, my brain still associates this Ghostface kill with Billy.
