Gale Weathers is the main tritagonist of the Scream franchise. She was a fame-seeking reporter who helped stop the original three Ghostface killing sprees while falling in love with Dewey Riley the most famous officer of Woodsboro, California.
Biography[]
Gale is a reporter who wrote a book on Maureen Prescott's death, explaining how she thinks Cotton Weary is innocent. She is rude, bossy, and goes to great lengths to get a good story (such as secretly videotaping unsuspecting teens at a house party). After Casey Becker and her boyfriend were murdered last night, she comes to the town and talks with Maureen's daughter, Sidney, about her book. At the night of the party, Gale and Dewey find Sidney's father, Neil's, car in the bushes not far from the house. When they go back to the house, they see almost everyone has left the house so Dewey tell Gale to call for backup while he checks out the house. She runs to her van and notices her cameraman brutally murdered. Gale tries to drive away but crashes into a tree after swerving off the road while trying to avoid a terrified Sidney (who has escaped from the house).
Later, when the Ghostface killers, Billy Loomis and Stu Macher, confront Sidney about their motive, an injured Gale arrives and pulls a gun on them. However, the safety is on and Billy kicks her against a pillar on the front porch where Dewey's unconscious body is lying. This gives Sidney time to escape and fight back. Just as Billy prepares to stab Sidney, Gale shoots him. Sidney then shoots Billy again as he suddenly wakes up - as Randy predicted - for "one last scare."
After the events from the previous film, she has written a new book about the murders that happened in Woodsboro. Sidney, although grateful she saved her life, refuses to do an interview with Cotton. Gale and Dewey's relationship, although strained at first, eventually turns heated.
After the other survivor, Randy Meeks, was brutally death, Gale and Dewey search for answers while also dealing with the problems in their relationship (Gale's intention toward Sidney with Cotton and what Gale wrote in her book about himself). The killer turns on footage of all the victims and the last taping is of them. They look in the projector room to see the killer filming them. They flee. Gale is pursuit heavily but narrowly escapes into a small room. After Dewey is finally able to communicate with her through a sound-prevention window, she witnesses Dewey getting stabbed multiple times in the back and believes he is dead. The killer pursues Gale once more but mysteriously disappears after there wasn't a way into the room.
In the climax, Gale is brought in by Mrs. Loomis, known as Debbie Salt throughout the movie, to the school theater. Mickey shoots Gale after Mrs. Loomis shoots him and she falls off the stage. However, the bullet bounces off Gale's ribs, allowing her to survive. Once the whole ordeal is over, Mickey suddenly springs to life and is shot to death by Sidney and Gale. During the end of the film, Gale finds out that Dewey is not dead and goes with him to the hospital to recover.
She is shown to be much more compassionate than in the first two films. She has written a third book based on the copycat killings from the last movie. She returns along with Dewey after Cotton is murdered and the actors filming a third Stab movie are killed off. Again, Gale and Dewey have an acrimonious relationship based on their past together. Gale is first seen talking to a group of students about journalism. When the class ends, she meets up with Mark Kincaid, a detective who informs her about the death of Cotton. Shortly after this, goes to the set of Stab 3: Return to Woodsboro and is reunited with Dewey after meeting the actress who portrays her, Jennifer Jolie. Later, she goes to Jennifer's house to see Dewey. After jumping down the hill to avoid the explosion that killed Tom Prinze, the actor portraying Dewey in the new Stab movie, Gale, Dewey, Jennifer and Angelina Tyler all are split up. Gale is attacked by Ghostface, but is saved by Dewey. She survives the climax in the Hollywood home of John Milton. At the end, Dewey asks Gale to marry him, which she accepts.
Gale is trying to reinvent herself as an author but finds that she is having trouble due to writer's block. When Sidney returns to Woodsboro and the killings start again, Gale is excited to have the opportunity to yet again be a part of solving the killings, even though Dewey doesn't want her involved in the investigation. Going "rogue" (as she puts it), Gale goes undercover at a Stab-a-thon party -- a party at a barn to screen the seven Stab films -- to catch the killer. However, Gale is attacked and nearly killed by Charlie Walker as Ghostface in the barn on camera. Thankfully, Dewey made it to the barn in time to save her and rush her to the hospital. Gale is only stabbed in the shoulder and manages to recover. Gale survives her wounds and pieces together who the killer is by simply using logic. She is present at the final confrontation, where she distracts Jill Roberts long enough for Sidney to get the upper hand with a defibrillator. She yet again survives, tending to Dewey, who is injured on the floor. Sometime after the 2011 attacks, Gale and Dewey divorced and she moved to New York to host her own morning show, which Dewey was an avid viewer of. Gale since quit writing as she never had time to focus on it.
When the murders in Woodsboro start again, Dewey texts Gale to let her know and she makes the decision to return to Woodsboro, just in time to learn that Judy has been killed. She expresses her anger with Dewey for only sending her a text and the two reconcile after years of being apart. When Dewey is murdered by GhostFace, Gale mourns the loss and she is reunited with Sidney, who made the decision to return to Woodsboro too. Sidney and Gale attempt to ask Samantha Carpenter for help to stop the Killer, but she declines and leaves with her boyfriend, Richie Kirsch, and sister, Tara Carpenter. Unbeknownst to them, Sidney has left a tracker on Sam's car which they use to follow her all the way to 261 Turner Lane. As they arrive, they are met by a screaming Amber Freeman, however Gale senses the trap immediately and Amber shoots Gale, revealing herself as one of the killers. Gale tells Sidney to go inside and finish this, as they planned. When the second killer, Richie, is unmasked, Amber brings Gale inside to the kitchen where they are replicating the ending of the original Stab movie. Richie and Amber reveal their motive as attempting to create a "requel" to Stab 8, and Gale and Sidney then fight back, setting Amber on fire, killing her. Samantha fights back against Richie and kills him by stabbing him repeatedly and then slitting his throat. As reporters dish on the murders, Samantha thanks Sidney and Gale for helping them, and then leaves in the ambulance with her sister. Gale reveals that she won't be writing about Richie and Amber, instead she will write about Dewey and the man he was, thus letting the Killers die in anonymity and their plan fail.
Victims[]
Scream 2 (1997)[]
- Mickey Altieri - Shot by Sidney and Gale
Scream (2022)[]
- Amber Freeman - Face scorched, brains elevated by bullet (Shared with Tara Carpenter)
Trivia[]
- Unlike Sidney and Dewey, Gale was played by fictional actress Jennifer Jolie in Stab, Stab 2, and Stab 3: Return to Woodsboro.
- Gale wrote several books, including one about Weary's innocence, and on the Woodsboro Murders.
- Gale punched Jennifer Jolie (who played Gale). This symbolizes more of Gale's likeness and bond towards Sidney in trauma and survival. At times, Gale will display a survivor's edge look along with Sidney.
- Other than the fact she is married to Dewey, her own family hasn't appeared nor been mentioned in the series yet.
- Gale's actress, Courteney Cox, was married to Sheriff Dewey's Actor, David Arquette, from 1999-2013, which also explains the marriage between the characters.
- Actress and comedienne Janeane Garofalo was offered the part of Gale Weathers-Riley but she turned it down.
- During filming the first three films, Courteney Cox was starring in Friends as Monica Geller and surprisingly didn't miss a single episode even although she had to film for months from the first to the third films. Also, during Scream 4, she was starring in Cougar Town.
- Courteney Cox agreed to appear in Scream 3 only if it would be her final film but she came back for Scream 4 anyway.
- In the original script for Scream 2, she was depicted as being closer to Sidney and was killed at the end of the script.
- In Scary Movie, the character based on Gale is named "Gail Hailstorm" and has written a book entitled "You're Dead, I'm Rich".
- She is the only character to appear in all 6 films, since Neve Campbell (Sidney's actress) refused to come back for the sixth film.