There’s something uniquely special about watching someone live out their dream on screen, and with Scream 7, that’s exactly what Mckenna Grace is doing.
The 19-year-old actress, who fans have watched grow up across everything from Young Sheldon to Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, stepped into the iconic franchise as Hannah Thurman this February. And by all accounts, she’s landed with exactly the warmth and energy that fans of hers have come to expect.
What makes Grace’s Scream 7 moment so compelling isn’t just the performance but the backstory. She has made no secret of how much the franchise means to her personally. “I am very, very, very, very, very big Scream fan,” she told press ahead of the film’s release. “It’s probably like top three favorite movies of all time.”
That love isn’t performative. Grace has famously carried a set bag featuring the faces of Scream stars Matthew Lillard and Skeet Ulrich to every single job she’s ever worked, a tradition she refused to break even when filming Scream 7 itself. The result was a beautifully awkward moment when the director introduced her to Ulrich on set while she was frantically trying to hide the bag with his face on it. “I love what you’re doing right now,” she recalled thinking. It’s the kind of story that perfectly captures why fans connect with her so deeply. She’s one of them.
Her red carpet appearance at the February 25th Los Angeles premiere gave those fans even more to celebrate. Stepping out in a striking black strapless gown with side cutouts, a silk bow, and a dramatic asymmetrical hem, Grace looked every inch the leading lady she’s becoming. Fans flooded her Instagram comments almost immediately. “She is grown up,” one fan wrote. “You look incredible!!” added another, while someone else quipped, “That’s a killer outfit,” earning bonus points for the pun. The phrase fans kept coming back to? “Screaming.” It was a collective recognition of something the fanbase has been watching unfold for years: a remarkable young actress stepping fully and confidently into her own.
On screen, critics who responded positively to the film singled out the energy that Grace and her fellow newcomers bring to the story. One reviewer noted that Grace, alongside co-stars Asa Germann, Celeste O’Connor, and Sam Rechner, contributes to “a levity that makes this movie wildly and unapologetically fun.” Her character Hannah gets to carry both comic beats and genuine emotional stakes, and Grace, with her well-established ability to blend vulnerability with toughness, proves a natural fit. Her horror credentials coming in were no small thing either. Between Annabelle Comes Home, Malignant, and The Haunting of Hill House, Grace has quietly become one of the most experienced young actors in the genre. Scream 7 feels less like a debut and more like a homecoming.
She also gave everything to the role physically. “I did lose my voice, and that was a first, it was so cool!” she shared during press. “I lost my voice from how much yelling and screaming are involved for those types of films. But yeah, I lost my voice, and then the next day, I had an audition for the biggest musical ever, and I was like, ‘You’re joking. Of course.'”
Grace’s involvement in Scream 7 extended beyond her role as Hannah. She collaborated with horror-metalcore band Ice Nine Kills on “Twisting the Knife,” an original track for the film’s soundtrack. Channeling Amy Lee-influenced vocals, Grace leaned into a sound that’s a genuine departure from her folk and pop releases, and fans have taken notice. “Making this song was such a special experience for me,” she said. “I am such a big INK fan and it was such an amazing opportunity to be able to play with a different style of music.” Recording the track in a room with an original Ghostface knife on the wall was, by all accounts, very on-brand.
Scream 7 is just one piece of an extraordinary chapter for Grace. She’s already locked in as Maysilee Donner in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping and will be taking on Daphne in an upcoming live-action Scooby-Doo series. Every project she touches seems to confirm the same thing: this is an actress who shows up prepared, passionate, and ready to pour herself into the work.
For fans who have followed Mckenna Grace from her earliest days, Scream 7 is another deeply satisfying chapter. She came to this franchise as a fan, and she’s leaving it as a bona fide part of its legacy. Ghostface doesn’t scare her. She was already obsessed with him.
