Jill Roberts

"What world are you living in? I don’t need friends; I need fans. Don’t you get it? This has never been about killing you, it's about... becoming you. I mean, for fuck's sake, my own mother had to die, no great loss there, so I could stay true to the original. It’s sick, right? Well, sick is the new sane. You had your fifteen minutes, now I want mine! [...] How do you think people get famous anymore? You don't have to achieve anything, you just gotta have fucked up shit happen to you."

- Jill to her cousin Sidney explaining her motivation to be Ghostface.

Jillian "Jill" Roberts was the main antagonist of Scream 4 (2011 film) and the seventh revealed Ghostface killer in the franchise. She was the mastermind of the most violent Ghostface massacre, which also claimed the most casualties, the Second Woodsboro Murders (2011).

She was the daughter of Kate Roberts, the younger sister of the original Ghostface victim, Maureen Prescott. Having grown up in Woodsboro, California, she resented the non-stop commentary people made about her estranged celebrity cousin, Sidney Prescott, the face of the original Stab trilogy. Her closest "friends" were film geek, Kirby Reed and next-door neighbor, Olivia Morris.

The character was a false protagonist, with promotion claiming she would be the new Sidney-esque heroine for a new generation. In actuality, she was the mastermind behind the anniversary killings. Despite this, Jill in her masterminded plot, technically stayed true to the original, only killing her framed target, Trevor Sheldon and her own accomplice, Charlie Walker, with both fulfilling millennial Billy and Stu archetypes.

In the execution of Jill's plan, her accomplice Charlie was largely almost entirely the muscle to the operation, with the assumption that she would be a millennial Sidney and he would be a millennial Randy. However, Jill betrayed and killed him as she always intended to be the sole survivor, like Sidney herself, and killed Trevor, who she framed.

Jill is also the maternal first cousin of serial killer Roman Bridger, the child Maureen gave up for adoption. It is unknown if Roman's blood lineage was made public.

Early Life
Jillian Roberts was born to single mother, Kate Roberts in 1994. She grew up in Woodsboro, California. Just one year after her birth, the very first Ghostface killing in Woodsboro occurred; the victim being her aunt, Maureen Prescott (née Roberts).

As a child growing up, Jill was all too familiar with the name of her celebrity cousin, Sidney Prescott, a survivor of the 1996 Woodsboro Murders, and the name and face protagonist of a successful slasher franchise, Stab.

General Background
After she was cheated on by her boyfriend, Trevor Sheldon sometime in their sophomore year or the summer before senior year, Jill began a secret relationship with Woodsboro High Cinema Club President and horror buff, Charlie Walker, who she sat next to in Mr Baker's English class.

Growing up, her mother Kate was neglectful. Fuelled by her cousin's immense stardom and fame, being cheated on, and her cousin's successful book tour of her self-help novel, Out of Darkness (2011, published by Random), the events spiralled Jill over the edge into psychopathy. She conspired with secret boyfriend, Charlie Walker to concoct their own elaborate anniversary killing spree in the town for the 15th anniversary, learning Sidney would be in town as a last stop on her book tour.

Unbeknownst to Charlie, he was simply a tool in her game. Jill convinced him of manifesting his Stab movie dreams to reality in the form a real-life remake. She elaborated on her vision: millennial counterparts to Sidney Prescott and Randy Meeks.

As part of their plan, they desired to remake the original Woodsboro murders that Billy Loomis and Stu Macher orchestrated, framing her ex-boyfriend, Trevor Sheldon in the process. However, Jill also secretly intended on framing Charlie for the murders as an accomplice, with the pairing serving as a true millennial counterpart to Billy and Stu, while Jill would be left as the sole survivor, like her cousin.

As part of the scheme, she came up with the idea of filming the murders due to Jill's belief that no one reads anymore, which they also intended on uploading onto the internet under Trevor's IP address to further frame him as the Ghostface killer.

Second Woodsboro Murders (2011)
Jill and Charlie began their copycat killings with Jenny Randall and Marnie Cooper. Jill filmed the murders with a film camera, as Charlie killed Marnie by stabbing her in the stomach multiple times. Shortly after, Charlie called and taunted Jenny over the phone, shortly before Jill and Charlie throw Marnie's corpse through a nearby window. Jill chases Jenny across her house, briefly catching her, and stabs her in the back. Jenny crawls down into her garage (which is undergoing renovations) where she has her back crushed by the garage door and is stabbed while Charlie filmed from the other side of the garage door. After their kills, Jill stabbed, gutted, and bound Jenny to a chair while Charlie stabbed and gutted Marnie before hanging her to the ceiling fan. Jill wrote "What's Your Favorite Scary Movie?" on the wall in one of the girls' blood. It was written because she wanted the police and Sidney to know "Ghostface" was back.

The following day, Jill and her friend Olivia Morris are given a ride to school by their best friend Kirby Reed. Charlie plants Jenny and Marnie's blood, Sidney's novels and Ghostface merchandise in the trunk of Sidney's rental car while she is inside a bookstore doing a book signing for her newly released novel Out of Darkness. Jill receives a phone call from Charlie as "Ghostface" using Jenny's phone during the ride, and after Jill hangs up, Olivia reveals she got a call like that from Marnie's phone. On the way to school, Kirby almost gets into an accident, that likely would have killed Jill and injured Olivia. Once Jill, Olivia and Kirby arrive, they are confronted by both Charlie and film geek best friend, Robbie Mercer, who asks them their favorite scary movie in other of the fifteenth anniversary of Massacre Week. Unlike Olivia and Kirby, Jill doesn't seem to be bothered by the camera. Jill is later confronted by Trevor while she's at her locker. He wants to be given a second chance, but she rejects him. After Sidney's car becomes an official crime scene and the police become aware of the murders of the night before, Jill, Olivia and Kirby are taken to the police station after the police find out Olivia and Jill received phone calls. As they are questioned by Sheriff Dewey Riley, Sidney arrives and Jill acts like she's happy to see her, giving her a hug. No conclusion is drawn from the questioning.

When Jill gets home from the police station, she and Kirby prepare dinner with her mother. Later, she sees that Trevor has snuck into in her bedroom when she comes into her room after using the bathroom. She tells Trevor to get away from the window. He starts talking about wanting a second chance again when Sidney walks in and sees Jill with Trevor. After he leaves, she tells Jill she reminds her of herself. This is a homage of the time Billy Loomis snuck in through her window 15 years earlier. Later on, while watching the movie with Kirby, Jill makes a fake "Ghostface" call to Olivia. During this conversation, Charlie calls Kirby as Ghostface, claiming to be in the closet. Kirby opens Jill's closet to prove he isn't in there and called him a liar. He then gives a bone chilling response, "I never said I was in your closet" before immediately leaping out of Olivia's closet. Charlie mutilates her while Kirby and Jill watch horrified from the house next door. Sidney rushes over to the Morris house but does not arrive in time to save Olivia from death. Jill then calls Sidney as Ghostface to taunt her. She then hangs up and calls Sidney's name to alert Charlie that she's in the house. Jill heads upstairs to Olivia's room, but Sidney prevents her from looking at Olivia's corpse. Pretending to be upset, she tells Sidney that Olivia called her "The Angel of Death". Then Charlie, still wearing the Ghostface costume, comes out from behind a door, seemingly trying to attack Jill and manages to slash her arm. Sidney pushes her out of the way and kicks him down the stairs. After fighting him off, Sidney sees Jill sitting down at the top of the stairs, holding her bloodied left her arm. The police come in and Sidney tries to show them where the Charlie is, but he's no longer there. Kirby and Trevor also arrive at Olivia's house to see if Jill is okay.

Jill's arm is X-rayed at the hospital, where no serious damage appears to have been sustained. Jill somehow finds a way to escape from Sidney, her mother, and the doctors for a little bit. She calls and taunts Sidney's publicist and personal assistant, Rebecca Walters, as Ghostface and follows her into an empty parking structure. Having disabled Rebecca's car's ability to operate, she taunts her some more before finally stabbing Rebecca in the stomach as she attempts to flee. Jill makes her way to the roof and throws Rebecca's body off the parking structure. The body lands on a news van during a press conference held by Dewey.

The third annual Stab-a-Thon is the next night, taking place at an abandoned barn on the outskirts of town. However, Jill can't go because Kate wants to keep her teenage daughter safe. Jill and Sidney share a family moment when Sidney states that she knows how Jill feels and is very sorry about Olivia. Jill says she is sorry about Rebecca. Continuing the moment, Jill asks Sidney about being a survivor. Later on, Charlie lets Jill know that Gale Riley has arrived, and to log onto her laptop to watch through the webcam. She does so and sees Gale has discovered the webcam hidden in the haystack. Jill watches as Charlie attacks Gale, but he panics when Dewey begins firing gunshots at him. She sees Charlie stab Gale in the right shoulder, just before fleeing the scene. Gale survives her injuries and is rushed to the hospital as soon as possible. The Stab-a-Thon is canceled as a result of the incident.

Jill meets Charlie outside her house in her own Ghostface costume where she stabs Deputy Deputy Hoss in the back and Detective Anthony Perkins directly in the forehead. Charlie drives the cop car with their corpses two blocks down the street and stabs them several more times before taking a gun from one of the dead officers, which he gives to Jill later. In the meantime, after killing the cops, Jill calls Sidney to taunt her about Gale and to tell her a member of her family is going to die while all Sidney can do is watch. When Charlie returns, they attack Sidney and Kate from both sides of the Roberts house. Charlie scares Sidney and Kate at the back door forcing them to run to the front door where they are attacked by Jill. Sidney slams the door on Jill's arm causing her to groan in pain. Jill angrily thrusts her knife through the mail slot, stabbing her mother Kate, who was sitting against the door in an attempt to keep it shut. Kate dies after asking Sidney to tell Jill she's sorry. Jill, while waiting for Kirby to pick her up, sends Trevor a text message telling him to meet her at Kirby's house, where she intends on ending the killing spree. Charlie goes to the Reed house where he meets up with Robbie and Kirby until Jill arrives. Just as Charlie is putting on Stab 7, Trevor suddenly appears claiming Jill invited him to come over. Jill denies sending Trevor a text message to further arouse suspicion of him. She goes to upstairs to "look" for her cellphone, claiming she doesn't have it on her, and Trevor follows her. Charlie kills a drunken Robbie outside of Kirby's house while Jill abducts Trevor, tying him up. Jill returns downstairs after erasing the text she sent to Trevor. Soon, Sidney arrives and asks Jill to come with her when a bleeding Robbie appears at the door and gurgles "Run." He dies in front of them, and they look up to see Charlie in the Ghostface costume.

He chases them all back into the house. While Kirby disappears downstairs, Charlie chases Sidney and Jill upstairs where they lock themselves in Kirby's bedroom. Sidney forces Jill to get under the bed while she flees to the balcony to call for help. Jill does so after giving Sidney her cell phone. Sidney, when she's outside on the roof, yells for Jill to run and go get help hoping that Charlie will buy it and not look under the bed. After Charlie goes after Sidney, Jill goes to get her Ghostface costume. After an encounter with Charlie on the roof, Sidney soon joins up with Kirby and they escape to a room in Kirby's basement that locks. Charlie appears at the patio doors, and he is attacked by Jill, now wearing her own Ghostface costume. Jill calls Kirby as Ghostface and Sidney tells her to keep the killer on the phone while she goes to get Jill. They manage to trick Kirby into coming out of the room by asking her several trivial horror movie questions and letting her believe she actually won the game. She goes to untie Charlie, but he stabs her in the stomach twice, blaming her for not returning his affections sooner and leaving her for dead.Sidney, back inside, finds Jill is gone starts to go into the basement, going back for Kirby. She is grabbed from behind by Charlie, who holds her at knife point. After a struggle, she gets free and races for the front door.

Before reaching the front door, Jill stabs Sidney in the stomach just before revealing herself as the main Ghostface killer. She explains her motives to Sidney quickly and admits to being jealous of the attention that Sidney's trauma has bought her. Charlie takes Trevor out of the closet while explaining they intend on framing him for the killing spree. Jill shoots Trevor in the groin after telling him that she is not the kind of girl that he should have cheated on. Then, she shoots him in forehead. Directly following the reveal of their plans and the killing of her ex-boyfriend, Jill shares a kiss with Charlie, leading him on into thinking that she loves him. Afterward, Jill asks Charlie if he's ready. He says yes, just like Billy and Stu, wanting her to stab him in the shoulder like they rehearsed. Instead, she stabs him the chest, and claims the media really loves a sole survivor, before stabbing him in the stomach. As Charlie dies, Jill continues her jealous rant to Sidney before stabbing her deeply in the stomach. Sidney falls to the floor, believed to be dead. Thinking she's won, Jill mutilates herself. She stabs herself in the left shoulder, pulls part of her hair out and scratches her face using Trevor's hand, smashes her face through a glass frame and throws her body onto a glass table in order to make herself look like a victim. Then wipes her fingerprints off the gun and knife, placing Charlie and Trevor's fingerprints on them. She drops to the floor, mirroring Sidney's position just as the police arrive. As Jill is being taken into the hospital, she is surrounded by several reporters. She smiles, thinking that she has gotten away with everything and expects worldwide fame, plus media coverage, for being a sole survivor like Sidney.

At the hospital, Dewey talks to Jill, who reveals to know a little more information than she should for somebody who is a victim; Jill mentions to Dewey that she would like to write a book with Gale, with their "matching wounds", referring to them both being stabbed in the shoulder. The details of Charlie's attack on Gale were never released to the public, so Jill could never have known unless she was one of the murderers herself. Dewey does not catch onto this until he speaks with his wife. Furious that Sidney is still alive, Jill goes to the I.C.U. and tries to kill her again. She digs her fingers into Sidney's stitches until Dewey arrives. Jill hides and knocks him out with a metal bedpan. Gale and Deputy Judy Hicks arrive, but Jill shoots Judy in the chest after she tells Jill not to do anything stupid. As she prepares to shoot Gale, Sidney regains consciousness and puts two defibrillator pads to her skull, shocking her brain. However, Jill is still alive and proceeds to grab a glass shard in a final attempt to kill Sidney for good. Predicting Jill's final attack, Sidney grabs Dewey's gun and shoots her in the chest, killing her.

Outside of the Woodsboro Community Hospital, it is clear the reporters have yet to learn the truth. They are waiting for a statement from "heroine" Jill Roberts, who is lying dead in the hospital room and finally getting the 15 minutes of fame she so desperately craved until Sidney, Gale, Dewey and Judy told everyone the truth. They all believed them and realized that she tricked everybody, becoming the new generation's Billy Loomis.

Family

 * Kate Roberts † - Mother
 * Sidney Prescott - Cousin
 * Neil Prescott - Uncle
 * Maureen Prescott † - Aunt
 * Roman Bridger † - Cousin

Allies

 * Woodsboro High School
 * Charlie Walker † - Boyfriend / Accomplice / Fallguy

Enemies

 * Sidney Prescott - Jealousy
 * Dewey Riley †
 * Gale Weathers
 * Woodsboro High School
 * Trevor Sheldon † - Ex-boyfriend / Victim
 * Kirby Reed - Friend / Intended victim
 * Olivia Morris † - Friend / Victim
 * Robbie Mercer † - Friend / Victim
 * Jenny Randall † - Victim
 * Marnie Cooper † - Victim
 * Woodsboro, California
 * Judy Hicks †
 * Deputy Hoss † - Victim
 * Anthony Perkins † - Victim
 * Kate Roberts † - Mother / Victim

Pre-reveal

 * "What's your favorite scary movie, Olivia?" (Fake "Ghostface" call to Olivia)
 * "I could never handle that kind of attention." (Lying to Sidney)
 * "When you're done with a phone call, you let someone go, or when you take someone to the airport, you let them go. But when you tell somebody you love them. And she gives you... everything. And then you just go out with someone else, that is not letting her go, that's dumping her. Okay, that's... that's betrayal."
 * "You have no right to be here, not anymore..."
 * "I don't trust you, Trevor..."

Post-reveal

 * "Shut the fuck up already! I am not the girl you cheated on!" (To Trevor)
 * "I told so many lies today, that I actually started to believe them. I really think that I was born for this."
 * "Sidney this and Sidney that and Sidney, Sidney, Sidney! You were always so fucking special! Well, now I'm the special one." (To Sidney)
 * "What the media loves, baby, is a sole survivor. Just ask you know who." (To Charlie, directing at Sidney)
 * "Let's face it, Sid, your ingenue days, they're over." (To Sidney before she stabs her).
 * "What world are you living in? I don't need friends. I need fans. You had your 15 minutes. Now I want mine!" (To Sidney)
 * "This has never been about killing you. It's about becoming you." (To Sidney)
 * "That's sick, right? Well, sick... is the new sane." (To Sidney)
 * "You just won't die, will you? Who are you, Michael fucking Myers?" (To Sidney)
 * "You just had to be the hero, huh? (...) Don't fucking tell me what to do." (To Judy before and after shooting her in the chest.)
 * "Now get up, bitch. Come on. Get your skinny ass out here. I'm going to enjoy blowing your head off." (To Gale)
 * "Clear?" (Final word)

About Jill

 * "You remind me of me." (Sidney about her cousin)
 * "That's the worst imitation I've ever heard, Jill." (Olivia about Jill's Ghostface imitation).
 * "Tell Jill, I'm so sorry." (Kate about her daughter.)
 * "...And every decade or so, some idiot gets the bright idea to put on the mask, kill his friends and get famous too. The last time it happened was in 2011." (Samantha Carpenter about Jill and Charlie).
 * "I know how you feel." (Sidney to Jill)
 * "Jill is screening her calls from all past relationships." (Kirby to Ghostface/Charlie, believing it is Trevor)
 * "Before we get in the car, you have to promise not to kill me." (Kirby jokingly to Jill in their first scene together).
 * "Somebody cares about you over here, ya know. Someone who never should have let you go." (Trevor to Jill).

In-costume

 * "Tell Sidney, it's all because of her! Or maybe she wants to take his place." (To Kirby on the phone about Charlie).
 * "Forget watching Stab, you get to live it."
 * "Family ties cut deep."
 * "What's closer than family? The bond of blood. You can't save them, all you can do is watch..." (Jill says before laughing, after phone-calling Sidney).
 * "Alright Kirby, then it's time for your last chance question. Name the remake of the groundbreaking horror movie which in the film..."
 * "You go do your good-girl thing, and I will drink for the both of us." (Kirby to Jill)

Speculated In-Costume

 * "You're the dumb blonde with the big tits. We'll have some fun with you before you die."
 * "She's on the cutting room floor."
 * "I'll be happy to put you there, in the morgue."

Visual Clues and Easter eggs

 * Jill's room reveals her true nature. Her book shelf reveals the following books she is in possession of, despite acting innocuous about Stab and its popularity. The bibliography seen on her shelf include:
 * Zodiac by Robert Graysmith (1986)
 * College Terror by Gale Weathers (1998)
 * Ghostface Returns by Gale Weathers (2008)
 * Serial Killers with Deadly Intent, published by Igloo Books (2009)


 * In the final act, she wears a white and blue plaid shirt which reveals her true role in the film as the Remake Billy Loomis, as well as symbolizing her role as a chess master. This is similar to Richie Kirsch, who later wore a blue plaid shirt like Billy.
 * The literature seen in her English classroom conducted by Mr. Baker also hint towards her role.

Other

 * First killer in the franchise who successfully killed another killer. (This is followed by Third Killer, Jamal Elliot and Beth.)
 * Age is stated to be 17 in the extended ending, which was cut. It is possible her age may be different in the final cut.
 * Youngest actor and character to ever portray Ghostface.
 * Jill did not receive her 15 minutes of fame postmortem either; no Stab film was made about her story. After Stab 7 (2010), the franchise was in development hell for 10 years, until the infamous Rian Johnson directed eighth Stab film, simply known as Stab (2020) was released. In the Scream universe, this technically means she and Charlie are the least famous Ghostface killers known in comparison to the first three killing sprees.
 * Based on Jill's behavior, she is a textbook psychopath.
 * Jill is the second relative that was jealous of Sidney's immense fame and popularity. The first was her half-brother, Roman Bridger.
 * Jill's jealousy was rooted in desiring to be her, whereas Roman's issue was about their shared mother's rejection, with Maureen rejecting her birth son and "choosing" Sidney, who would develop a celebrity victim reputation with adoring fans and a film franchise inspired by her life. This would have aggrieved Roman, as he technically sparked the chain of events to convince her mother's killer to do the job. Ultimately, both relatives have very similar motives, but subtle and important differences.
 * As Roman's maternal first cousin, they act similar due to their neglect/abandonment issues related back to Maureen Prescott (for Roman, how Maureen rejected her birth son, and for Jill, how Maureen's sister failed to be a proper caretaker due to her grief and possible attention seeking issues from the fame related to her sister's infamous murder).
 * Some fans believe that Jill is the one who actually attacked Gale at Stab-a-thon. Which is later proven because she knew Gale's stabbing position. Incidentally, her remark on this is what exposes her as the killer.

Script and Casting

 * The casting call for Jill states: "Pretty in an ingenue way. Smart, strong. A little goofy, but she makes it sexy. Full of contradictions, but instantly likeable. Not a mean bone in her body. They’re not close, but Jill is Sidney’s cousin." This description was given to hide the fact she is Ghostface.
 * In meta casting, Emma Roberts has an identical surname to her character, and like her character, is also the younger relative to a more famous celebrity, Julia Roberts. Coincidentally, Julia Roberts is mentioned by Steven Stone in the previous Scream film as someone he was a bodyguard for in his resume.
 * Ashley Greene was originally chosen for Jill but dropped out of production. Her salary demands were rumored as a reason.
 * Old drafts for the script indicated Jill would be a Prescott, not a Roberts, and Sidney's father, Neil's biological niece. It was likely changed to tie-in her motive connection to Maureen's abandonment. A casting call indicated Jill's last name was also once Keesler also, but this was changed to Roberts for continuity reasons (Maureen's maiden name is mentioned in Scream 3 by Gale). Fans speculate this is her absent father's surname.
 * Emma Roberts was required to dye her short, blonde hair brunette and wear extensions to match Sidney's length and color in the first film. She also had to wear seven-inch-high boots in order to make her height the same as everyone else's, as she was the shortest person on set. The boots can actually be seen at the end of the movie, where Jill attacks herself and falls down next to Sidney and when Sidney instructs her to go under the bed.
 * In the movie Lymelife with Rory Culkin and Emma Roberts Emma's character seduces Rory's character in a confessional and they also had a sex scene. This is apparently what happened between Jill and Charlie: Jill seduced Charlie into doing her bidding and thinking that she loved him, he agreed to help her with her killing spree.

Deleted Scenes

 * Some deleted scenes on the DVD will show Jill, Sidney, and her mother Kate being escorted to the hospital by paramedics. Another one where Trevor visits her in the hospital. Another scene where she and Trevor are outside of Kirby's house looking for her phone. There's also the extended scene where she and Trevor have their fall out at school where Trevor pleaded for Jill's forgiveness this will be a reference to the first movie where Billy and Sidney have a fall out in the school's hallway.
 * Although this is highly unlikely, some believe that Jill survived. Wes Craven talks about it in the DVD commentary.

Appearances

 * Scream 4 (2011 film)