Rian Johnson

Rian Johnson is an American filmmaker and director. In the Scream universe, he is mentioned as the "Knives Out guy" that directed the controversial eighth Stab film, simply known as Stab, released in 2020.

This is mentioned by Liv McKenzie in Scream 5 (2022 film). Johnson's name is verified as director in Richie Kirsch's view of the film in its 2021 digital release. These events occur in Scream 5 (2022 film).

His film created the motive of psychotic super-fans, Richie Kirsch and Amber Freeman — original Stab (1998) film purists who loathe the sequels — to launch their own real-life legacy requel, with Samantha Carpenter as their proposed villain, the daughter of original Ghostface serial killer, Billy Loomis.

In real-life, Johnson is known for his directorial work and screenplay for Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017), the controversial 8th Star Wars film which sparked widescale fandom backlash. The killers in the fifth film serve as meta parodic commentary on this phenomenon.

Trivia

 * Johnson tweeted a response to the meta commentary inspired by his role saying, "SCREAM 8: A BENOIT BLANC MYSTERY".
 * He was supposed to have a cameo with Hayden Panettiere as her Scream 4 surviving heroine, Kirby Reed (as a filmmaker) on a video titled "Reinventing Stab".
 * According to Radio Silence, it was ultimately scrapped, due to his scheduling conflicts and also the filmmakers worrying that Kirby was shoehorned into the film.