Draft:Scream season 1

The first season of the slasher television series, Scream initially aired on MTV in the United States. It premiered on June 30, 2015 with "Pilot" and concluded on September 1, 2015 with "Revelations". The season consists of ten episodes.

The first season takes place in the fictional town of Lakewood, following teenager Emma Duval, whose story is linked to the horrific events of the town's past. As the killer's main obsession starts to take a hold after a brutal murder in the present, Emma finds herself in the center of imminent peril. With both her family and friends in danger, she sets out to uncover the town's dark mysteries and unmask the identity of the Lakewood Slasher.

The season stars Willa Fitzgerald, Bex Taylor-Klaus, John Karna, Amadeus Serafini, Connor Weil, Carlson Young, Jason Wiles, and Tracy Middendorf.

Main

 * Willa Fitzgerald as Emma Duval
 * Bex Taylor-Klaus as Audrey Jensen
 * John Karna as Noah Foster
 * Amadeus Serafini as Kieran Wilco
 * Connor Weil as Will Belmont
 * Carlson Young as Brooke Maddox
 * Jason Wiles as Clark Hudson
 * Tracy Middendorf as Maggie Duval

Special guest stars

 * Bella Thorne as Nina Patterson ("Pilot")

Recurring

 * Karsyn Darby and Madison Wolfe as Young Emma Duval
 * Tom Maden as Jake Fitzgerald
 * Bobby Campo as Seth Branson
 * Brianne Tju as Riley Marra
 * Amelia Rose Blaire as Piper Shaw
 * Bryan Batt as Mayor Quinn Maddox
 * Sosie Bacon as Rachel Murray
 * Sophina Brown as Lorraine Brock

Guest

 * Anna Grace Barlow as Young Maggie Duval
 * Tom Everett Scott as Kevin Duval

Casting
On August 5, 2014, both the main cast and recurring cast were announced. However, Amy Forsyth dropped out and was replaced by Bex Taylor-Klaus as Audrey Jensen. On February 22, 2015, it was revealed that Joel Gretsch, who was playing Clark Hudson, had left the series as producers thought his character should go down a different path; he was replaced by Jason Wiles. On December 11, 2014, it was revealed that Bella Thorne would be a part of the cast, she played the character Nina Patterson. Thorne confirmed this during an interview saying, "Yes it's true. I will re-enact the famous scene of Drew Barrymore in the original series." On April 22, 2015, True Blood actress Amelia Rose Blaire was confirmed to be joining the series as Piper Shaw which, by the character description, is a role similar to Gale Weathers from the Scream films.

On June 18, 2015, Bella Thorne confirmed she was offered the lead role in the series but turned it down in favor of a smaller role. She went on to explain, "I had the option to do the lead, but I thought I should choose this role because I felt it was more iconic, I thought it was just a little bit more and also I've never been killed on screen before. I've never been killed ever on anything that I've done. I've always been the character that lives at the end so it was my first time dying on screen which is pretty cool. I wouldn't say that my character isn't necessarily in any more of the episodes but you'll see!"

Home media
Scream: The Complete First Season was released by Lionsgate Home Entertainment on May 10, 2016.

Critical response
The first season of Scream received an overall mixed response. On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season received a rating of 52%, based on 42 reviews, with a 5.45/10 average rating. The site's critical consensus reads: "Lacking truly compelling characters or scenarios, Scream is formed to trade too heavily on nostalgia for its big-screen predecessors in the franchise." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the first season has a score of 57 out of 100, based on reviews from 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

In a positive review, David Hinckley from New York Daily News awarded the pilot four out of five stars and stated, "Happily, Scream maintains a sense of humor, reinforced with snappy, self-aware pop culture dialogue." Similarly, Brian Lowry of Variety commended the series' ability to maintain suspense "without much actually happening during the rest of the episode," noting its use of music, but expressing skepticism if the series could maintain its originality. Aedan Juvet of PopWrapped gave a positive assessment of the series and called it, "a prime example of a game-changing horror series". Conversely, David Wiegand of the San Francisco Chronicle panned the series and gave it one out of four stars, criticizing the acting performances as "bland, robotic, and uninteresting" as well as its apparent lack of racial diversity. In a mixed review, Mark Perigard of the Boston Herald gave the series a C+, saying, "There are a few scares here, but while the Scream films kept audiences jumping, Scream: The TV Series risks putting viewers to sleep."