Chad Meeks-Martin

"I'm like... 99% sure that you're not the killer."

- Chad to Liv McKenzie

Chad Meeks-Martin is a main character in Scream (2022 film), and its untitled sequel (2023 film). He is a survivor of the 25th anniversary Legacy Killings (2021) in Woodsboro, California, which was committed by Stab (1998) fanatics.

He is the nephew to original Scream character, Randy Meeks, son of Martha Meeks. Despite being Randy's nephew, he does not share many characteristics with his uncle, unlike his twin sister, Mindy. Chad was part of the Woodsboro High Football Team and won the heart of Liv McKenzie.

When a new Ghostface entity strikes, Chad immediately suspects Vince Schneider who had stalked Liv's Instagram, having previously been in a relationship with her. When Vince attempts to steal Liv back, Chad threatens him. Vince is later murdered, making Chad a suspect.

He is later attacked after trying to track down Liv at Wes Hicks' memorial party at Amber's house. After being stabbed seemingly to death and left to bleed out, he was somehow resuscitated, and appears in medical emergency recovery in his last frame.

He is portrayed by Mason Gooding.

Background
Chad was born in approximately September 2003 alongside his twin sister, Mindy to approx. 21-year-old, Martha Meeks (appears in Scream 3).

The question of his paternity was alluded to by actress Heather Matarazzo, who stated in a March 16, 2022 Twitter Q&A that she was aware of his identity. Then after several rejected speculations by fans, she finally liked a tweet with a still of cameraman, Joel (appears in Scream 2), fueling this idea further.

If so, the Scream 2 character whose news van was an accessory to his uncle's murder, possibly developed a relationship with the Meeks family after the murders.

It is unknown whether he grew up in Woodsboro, California as a child or lived with his father (possibly in Ohio if it is Joel) or if he relocated sometime after the Second Woodsboro Murders (2011), during the time when Sam Carpenter babysat him (approx. 2012—2016). Given his absence in Scream 4 (2011), it appears likely he was living with his father at the time.

2021 Woodsboro Legacy Murders
After Tara Carpenter is attacked, Chad and his friends go to visit her in the hospital after calling Tara's sister, Samantha Carpenter, back to Woodsboro. Chad is questioned about the bruises on his arm and then defends his girlfriend, Liv McKenzie, against Vince Schneider, a former summer romance of hers who is now stalking her through Woodsboro. As the friends hang out in a bar, Vince confronts them causing Chad to threaten him and getting everyone kicked out.

The next day, Chad and Mindy host all their friends, Samantha, Richie Kirsch, and Dewey Riley at their home as they discuss the latest attacks and try to figure out who the Killer is or what their motive is. After everyone accuses Samantha of being the Killer she leaves in anger.

The next night, Amber Freeman hosts a party at her house which Chad dedicates to Wes Hicks's memory, as he was killed the day before. Amber scolds Chad for doing shots at Wes' memorial party, which he defends by saying it's how he mourns and is distracting himself from "the looming spectre of Death". Later, Liv and Chad are seen making out on the couch downstairs. Liv tells Chad she wants to go all the way with him, but being distrustful of everyone, he respectfully declines, causing Liv to storm out of the party.

Chad then gets a text from Liv with a GPS tracker of her phone and he follows her to try and apologise, unaware that it's actually a trap set by the Killer. Chad tries to flee but Ghostface bursts out of a shed behind him and chases him, stabbing him seven times before he is interrupted by Sam, Tara and Richie's vehicle pulling up in front of the house, causing Ghostface to flee as he bleeds out.

Liv claims to have found his body outside, believing him to be dead when she's accused of being the killer for having his blood on her hands. Chad is later revealed to have survived his attack, being wheeled out on a stretcher conscious, exchanging a glance with Mindy, who also survived her attack.

Family

 * Martha Meeks - Mother
 * Mindy Meeks-Martin - Sister
 * Randy Meeks † - Uncle

Allies

 * Samantha Carpenter
 * Sidney Prescott
 * Gale Weathers
 * Woodsboro, California
 * Dewey Riley †
 * Judy Hicks †
 * Woodsboro High School
 * Wes Hicks † - Friend
 * Tara Carpenter - Friend
 * Liv McKenzie † - Girlfriend

Enemies

 * Richie Kirsch † - Killer
 * Amber Freeman † - Ex-Friend / Killer

Quotes
Scream 5 (2022)
 * "Not to sound like a stereotypical jock who's trying to get into his girlfriend's pants, but..." (About Liv)
 * "Ah yes. Thank you very much, Edward Snowden." (To Wes)
 * "Actually, your mother just interrogated me about Tara's attempted murder, which was very fun".
 * "Time to introduce him to Hobbs and Shaw." (About Vince)
 * "I don't fucking care who you're talking to." (To Vince)
 * "Don't you fucking talk to her, I don't wanna hear your goddamn voice." (To Vince)
 * "Then why kill that douche-nozzle who was stalking Liv?"
 * "Hey! To Wes!"
 * "(Muttering) Beautiful son of a bitch."
 * "Well, this is how I mourn and distract myself from the looming spectre of death." (To Amber)
 * "Jesus, Mindy. That's my girlfriend and I love her."
 * "You just gonna sit here and watch a movie about our uncle being stabbed?"
 * "Oh my god, at least take some sort of weapon." (Mindy to her brother)
 * "Woah, stop! Wait Wait Wait!" (Chad to Ghostface/Amber before getting attacked.)
 * "Alright, listen up, uglier Michael Myers. It was a summer flame, alright? It meant nothing." (Chad to Vince.)

Paternity
The question of his paternity has been speculated, as some fans alleged the father was an important past character. On March 16, 2022, Heather Matarazzo (who portrays Chad's mother, Martha) did a Twitter Q&A with fans. She re-fuelled speculation after she [https://twitter.com/HeatherMatarazz/status/1504307909429063689? claimed to know the identity] of her on-screen twin children, Chad and Mindy's father.

After several "No" responses, she liked a tweet, asking her to "confirm or deny" with a screenshot of Joel, the cameraman from Scream 2 whose news van was an accessory to Randy's murder, and never re-addressed the topic following this in the Q&A.


 * Actor Duane Martin's surname is also, of course, Martin, a possible nod to his character all along (and a re-working from the original Scream Forever draft where the twins were originally Martinez). This possibility corroborates previous uses by Radio Silence, by using the real-life actor's surname for an unidentified surname of a character, such as Kenny Brown, the cameraman in the original Scream and his actor, W. Earl Brown.


 * It also corroborates rumours of Duane Martin's planned return in Scream 5 that was speculated to be scrapped for COVID-19 reasons, as he teased a return on Instagram that never transpired.


 * Radio Silence spoke to journalist Meagan Navarro and stated that Joel was once mentioned in the official script for Scream (2022) at one point, but it was cut. Given he would have no prior connections to anyone else, it further consolidates this theory.


 * Some fans have expressed disliking towards the possibility—due to the appropriateness of it—given the age gap between Martha and Joel when seen in their first appearances (17 and approx. 20s respectively). However, it is possible the pair met much later when Martha was around 20 (circa 2002) before she was pregnant in 2003. If Martha's mother, after Dewey contacted her about his death came to pick up the body where Joel's van would be a crime scene, it is likely she met Joel; a connection with the Meeks family may have formed slowly over time from there.

Trivia

 * His character name was confirmed by HelloSidney.com.
 * Is the jock fraternal twin brother of Mindy Meeks-Martin.
 * It was confirmed on the promotional TikTok @toobrashsarah that Randy Meeks is his uncle before the fifth film's release.
 * In the original draft script, Chad and his twin sister's surname was "Meeks-Martinez", and their father named Carlos appears in the house with Martha.
 * In the original draft script, Chad was originally supposed to be killed off. After a couple of Zoom meetings with his actor Mason Gooding, they decided to not kill him off.
 * Chad is sarcastic, humorous, and defensive when it comes to watching out for his partner and friends.
 * This resembles traits seen with other male characters within the franchise such as Chad’s uncle Randy Meeks, Dewey Riley, Derek, Noah Foster, Gustavo Acosta, Marcus Elliot, and Tyson Fox.
 * The scene of Chad being attacked outside of 261 Turner Lane is a slight parallel to how other victims were attacked during their run ins (all unexpectedly) with Ghostface and were ultimately killed, such as: Kenny Brown in Scream, Hallie McDaniel in Scream 2, and Robbie Mercer in Scream 4.
 * Chad is overall the third jock character and athlete in the Scream films, the first being Steven Orth and the most recent being Trevor Sheldon.
 * He is the ninth overall athletic male character in the franchise, preceded by Will Belmont, Jake Fitzgerald, and Gustavo Acosta from Season 1-2 of the TV series, as well as by Marcus Elliot, Avery Collins, and Hawkins from Season 3.
 * Chad is the second Black male character to survive the attacks of Ghostface in the franchise, with the first being Marcus Elliot from Season 3 of the TV series.
 * The first would indirectly be Joel (Chad’s father) from Scream 2, who despite never having been attacked, was associated as he was the new camerman of one of Ghostface’s enemies, Gale Weathers.
 * He survives Phil Stevens, Tyson Fox, and Anthony Perkins before him in the films; also preceding and succeeding Deion Elliot, Amir Ayoub, Latavious, B. Westbrook, and Jamal Elliot from Season 3 of the TV series, respectively.
 * He is the only jock involved in the Woodsboro Murders that has survived. (both Steven Orth and Trevor being the others that were murdered.)
 * He is also the only Black male to survive the attacks of Ghostface in the main Scream films; he’s also the first Black jock to survive, overall.
 * He homages Steven Orth, as Liv carries an inverse story to Casey Becker creating a Casey-Steve dynamic. Where they dump a Macher to be with a jock. Casey dumps Stu to be with Steve, while Liv dumps Vince to be with Chad.
 * He also reverses the stereotype as it’s shown that Liv was trying to have sex with Chad in their relationship instead of Chad trying to get it on with her, seeing as he’s the jock. Adamantly, he doesn’t fall to his girlfriend’s pressure and who perhaps without knowing, survived due to the rules stated by his uncle Randy, in the original Scream about not having sex, giving a reason why, despite being attacked, survived (it’s implied that Steven or Trevor did not follow this rule as they were quickly killed off, if the killers follow the original).

Appearances

 * Scream (2022 film)
 * Scream 6