“ | I don't need a hero! I'm Emma Duval! I don't need you! | ” |
–Emma Duval to Tom Martin, Halloween II |
Emma Duval is the main protagonist of the original Scream television series. In the original series' continuity, Emma's perseverance and survivability is tested against a Lakewood Slasher perpetrator and their accomplice(s), testing her strength among other perpetrators as well, such as the Shallow Grove Slasher. She evolves from naive, innocent teenage girl to a wary, yet intelligent young woman as her mental health is treated, yet tested by the events that occur to her.
In the first two seasons on MTV directed by show-runners Jill E. Blotevogel, Jaime Pagila (Season 1); Michael Gans, and Richard Register (Season 2), she is the Lakewood Slasher's primary target; in the Halloween special episodes of the second season, she is also the primary target of the Shallow Grove Slasher. She is the second daughter of town coroner Margaret "Maggie" Duval, who's at core part of the main reason of the first town murders during Halloween 1994, known as the 1994 Lakewood Murders, and her father (and his only child) and divorced husband, Kevin Duval, both whom are survivors of the deformed, alleged serial killer Brandon James, with her father being a victim of one of his attacks. She's also the half-sister to her abandoned half-sister and Maggie and Brandon's illegitimate child, Piper Shaw.
Emma proves herself to be a hero in the real-life true crime when she defeated the new second Lakewood killer committing the new second town murders in September-October 2015, 21 years after the original, who it's revealed was her falsely assumed friend, but in reality was her secret-half sister and 20 year old Autopsy of a Crime podcaster, Piper Shaw. When she defeated her, she took a three month mental health retreat away from Lakewood, ultimately causing the murders to be put on hiatus due to Piper's death and her accomplice having escaped.
Once she returns, Emma finds herself yet again the center of attention, due to the second killer returning to torture and target both Emma and her friends as survivors, the Lakewood Six, and others close to them, during the second half of their junior year of high school in January-February 2016. Kieran Wilcox, Emma's second boyfriend and the 17 year old son of the late Lakewood Sheriff, Clark Hudson, nephew of Tina Hudson and cousin of Eli Hudson, is revealed to be the accomplice and Piper's secret lover who sought revenge against Emma for his girlfriend's death in a real-life true crime sequel, and who had met up and been Piper's accomplice in the 2015 murders, targeting their parents (Emma's mom) due to the jealousy and hatred towards them being a couple, thus psychologically torturing Emma and her friends.
Emma later is convinced to leave Lakewood by her friends again, 8 months after the second town murders have ended and Kieran's sentencing and incarceration, as well as shocking subsequent murder by an unidentified Third Killer, to Shallow Grove Island during Halloween 2016, and during her and the Lakewood Five's senior year. It's revealed she was brought not only by her friends Noah Foster and Gustavo Acosta who were writing a third novel of the graphic series detailing the events of both killers massacres' in the Second Lakewood Murders, but by Tom Martin (under the alias Alex Whitten), who murdered the actual heir of the Whitten mansion in the island, messaged and accommodated Emma and her friends into the island per Noah and Gustavo's editor, Jeremy Blair, all whilst also during a storm, rendering the Lakewood Five unable to escape, in a real life true crime spin-off. By taking on the guise of the Shallow Grove Slasher, he was essentially reviving an urban legend based around Anna Hobbs, the original basis and Jeremy's owed book on this legend by Noah and Gustavo, and using it as a method to get closer to Emma, who he intended on sparing, and murder his victims who would give him away. Despite Tom sparing her, due to his belief that him and Emma are alike, she uses that to his weakness and ultimately his defeat.
After stopping the perpetrator's deluded spree, Emma and her friends return to continue and finish their senior year of high school in Lakewood, despite their awareness of the existence of a Third Killer in Lakewood, looming on the perhaps inevitable (and potential) Third Lakewood Murders. Due to the reboot of Season 3 occurring, for accuracy's sake in the series' timeline, it's safe to assume that Emma and her friends were able to survive and were revealed the Third Killer's identity off-screen and possibly finishing them off, and graduate from George Washington High School in May-June 2017, with Emma then, as shown in the finale of "Halloween II" filling out an application, ultimately being accepted enrollment at Lakewood University in August 2017, where she would then for the remainder, simultaneously occurring during the third season's events, mature into a hardened, adult woman and presumably, with no events or anything major in motion occurring in her life, graduate in 2021.
She is portrayed by Willa Fitzgerald.
Biography
Early Life
Emma was born to Margaret and Kevin Duval in Lakewood in approximately either November-December 1998. She was a normal teenage girl who grew up in the small, affluent town, Lakewood, Louisiana, where she lived her whole life.
Unbeknownst to her, she was not her mother's firstborn child, In her mom's youth, she had bore a daughter, who grew up to be Piper Shaw, who was also the daughter and result of an affair between Margaret and the alleged serial killer of the 1994 murders, Brandon James, of whom her mother and father were survivors from (notably her dad who was attacked).
Regardless, Emma was raised as an only child. In secret, Margaret aka Maggie would bring a young Emma to visit the James family outside of Lakewood, including most notably Brandon's only brother, Troy James's, farmhouse where Emma as a child, would play with pig intestines. Emma grew up to have a best friend in Audrey Jensen as a child, who she would play with by the old horse stables off Route 6 when younger.
When she was approximately 8 years old, her mother and father got into an argument surrounding her father's PTSD and beliefs of not having wanted the child, unbeknownst to Emma who had overheard, that he was referring to Piper (of whom the gender was not known, due to Maggie giving it up for adoption after birth), whom she would not meet for another nine years. This then led to, off-screen, Kevin physically assaulting Maggie, which led to an already massive strain on their marriage and ultimately, divorce, as Kevin would then abandon his daughter the year after on her 9th birthday, and would also not see him for another 7 to 8 years.
Emma grew up with her parents prior in an affluent area in the suburbs of Lakewood and her two-story house, likely more due to her mother's career and salary as the town coroner.
In middle school, during her eighth grade year (approx. August 2012-May 2013), Emma and Audrey would have a falling out as best friends, due to the differences in each's personality, as well as Emma's growing popularity. Regardless, the latter and Emma began attending George Washington High School in August-September 2013, who would then begin dating (unbeknownst to her until later, due to a dare) jock Will Belmont at 14 years old. Through Will she had met Nina Patterson, who she was aware of and knew was the town and school's popular "mean girl", she also met his best friend Jake Fitzgerald, the town mayor's daughter Brooke Maddox, and the group soon befriended Nina's boyfriend (at the time) Tyler O'Neill; and Riley Marra, who despite Emma knowing since elementary and seemingly being quirky and posh, was also a singleton and horror movie lover. The group then came to be known stereo-typically as The Popular Crowd. She would, despite being popular, remain acquainted with Audrey over their freshman and sophomore years of high school.
The Second Lakewood Murders (2015): A Real Life-True Crime Revival
Nina Patterson's Murder (2015)
On Monday night, September 28th, 2015, a 16 year old Emma Duval, alongside Brooke Maddox and Riley Marra, watched but didn't contribute to the non-consensual video recording spearheaded by Nina Patterson and Tyler O'Neill, who recorded it on his camera, of a 17 year old Audrey Jensen and her secret lover, Rachel Murray, a high school junior from St. Mary's Catholic High School for Girls, making out in her car at the school parking lot, essentially outing both girls. The video would be uploaded online by Nina on YouTube, in which it went viral, with the school body of GWHS also commenting on it, with many of the comments sarcastically praising it, and also hating the content.
After leaving that night, oblivious to either Emma, Brooke, or Riley as they headed home, both 17 year old Nina and Emma's 17 year old boyfriend, Will, would hook up not long after (unclear whether before or after the video was recorded uploaded).
Following Nina being driven home by Tyler, both her and her ex would be murdered by a new Lakewood Slasher sometime during the hours of 10-11PM, albeit it would be Nina's murder that would be the first murder reported (as the decapitated head of Tyler's would be taken away, despite appearing to Nina prior to her death), and who's young daughter is found the next morning floating downwards on the pool, blood over the grass and hot tub where Nina had been relaxing in pripr, on Tuesday, September 29th, by her grieving parents, Tracy and Craig Patterson, with her Pomeranian dog, Sage, being locked out during Nina's death. Her murder is reported to have been "sliced in the back and on the throat from ear to ear".
The Twenty-One Year Anniversary (2015)
“ | So, I have one more surprise before I open you up, and you'll never see it coming | ” |
–Piper as the Lakewood Slasher taunting Emma, Revelations |
Closing in on the 21st anniversary of the showdown at Wren Lake of the 1994 Lakewood Murders on Halloween 1994, as well as a day after Nina's murder, Emma is a typical 17-year old teenager and high school junior, who is taken aback by the shocking murder of Nina Patterson, rocking her sleepy town back to a dark past.
As reporters publicize the nighttime death of the 17-year old queen bee, Emma begins to think about the past and who questions her mother and town coroner, Maggie, over the next several days as the murder spree would commence. On Tuesday night, after school as she walks home after trying to comfort and make up with Audrey for admitting responsibility for her role in the infamous video, a teary Emma walks home alone one evening and receives a call from the Lakewood Slasher, unbeknownst to her, making her vigilant as the said unknown caller claims to be watching her and asks her about her saddened mood, commenting on social media about the appearance of artificial lives and taunts her about seeing the truth and that they'll talk soon before hanging up, much to Emma's wariness.
Emma then heads off to a party the following night of Wednesday, September 30th. She gets a ride from Will but before heading out, is startled by a knock on the door. Emma opens it to find nobody but a small parcel package on the porch, with a note written for Daisy, unbeknownst to her it's about her mother, for whom she gives it to and asks her about it. Maggie assures her whoever sent her must've got the wrong address before Emma leaves as Will arrives. They arrive to Nina's vigil held at Brooke's house at 9PM, and who both stay together, although Emma stays and mingles with Audrey, who she invited. They have a conversation poolside about Audrey's infamous video scandal, and while each now being from different cliques, their friendship seems to have still lasted, as Emma jokes about if it was her being in a car kissing with Scarlett Johannsson. Both laugh and reminisce as Audrey records Emma on her cam-recorder.
Emma then talks with Brooke, Will, and Audrey, as the latter ask Audrey questions, as Audrey states why she's at the vigil for a bully, and who it's revealed through Brooke inadvertently that Will cheated on Emma various times over the course of their relationship with the now former deceased Nina, as Emma notes she can pick up clues to a dumbfounded Will, who chased her after Brooke dropped the bombshell reveal. Will defends himself as saying he only did so when they were on break, to defend himself for Emma calling him out on all the times his phone was conveniently turned off, and for Emma picking up on Will's flirting with Nina on Facebook and online. Emma tells him she needs a break and some time off as she proceeds to leave Will and heads off alone to Brooke's greenhouse to drink and cope.
While she heads to the greenhouse, she runs into new transfer and 17 year old Kieran Wilcox, of whom she was introduced to at school in their 11th grade English teacher, Seth Branson's class, by Brooke prior to the student body and town of Lakewood receiving the news of Nina's murder and the high school going into mandatory grief counseling per the principal, who Brooke had invited to the vigil. Emma apologizes for disturbing, as Kieran assures her she's fine, as both strike up a conversation and begin flirting about dark humor with the reveal of Will sleeping with Nina, as Kieran tells her "Necrophilia's a problem". Emma tells Kieran he has a dark mind, as Kieran gets closer and warmer, comforting Emma and who tells her she has no idea. Kieran tells her off about her friends in high school, as Emma asks him about it, before Kieran faces Emma and tells her he could really use one, due to being the new Lakewood Sheriff Clark Hudson's only son and who had moved from Atlanta, Georgia, due to the death of his biological mother and stepfather and who did in order to avoid the foster care system. Despite Emma's mother as the coroner also having feelings for the sheriff which is Kieran's dad, Emma is wooed and both share a drunken, passionate kiss.
After making out and Emma apologizing due to still holding feelings for Will, she leaves and who would then assist her and Audrey's friend, Noah Foster, who had been stripped and placed on a floating raft in Wren Lake due to passing out and being drunk, who had almost drowned due to claiming of someone grabbing him, albeit Kieran had swam in to rescue him and told him it was fishing gear, which is seen on his feet. Jake tells Emma and the rest it's only tradition, much to the dismay of Brooke, Emma, and Riley. Following this, the party seemingly ends and Emma ends up taking a ride home from Kieran.
Appearances (24/24)
Season 1 (10/10) |
Season 2 (14/14) |
Kill Count
The following is Emma's Lakewood Slasher and Shallow Grove Slasher kill count:
Piper Shaw | Shot in the head (shot in chest by Audrey Jensen). | Revelations | |
Tom Martin | Stabbed in back with garden shears and pushed off balcony. | Halloween II |
Relationships
“ | I don't want to lose you | ” |
–Emma to Kieran, Village of the Damned |
Kieran comforts Emma after she reveals that her "perfect boyfriend", Will Belmont, cheated on her. They share a passionate first kiss, but days later Emma assures Kieran that she was just upset. Even though the pair do end up dating, their relationship becomes complicated when Emma admits she still harbors romantic feelings for Will, and then again after the incidents with the Lakewood Slasher. Emma decides she needs time to heal from the events in Season 1 and breaks up with Kieran, leaving for a three-month retreat that begins to help her heal emotionally from the suffering she endured.
They start up their relationship again at the beginning of Season 2. However, it becomes complicated further when Kieran tells the police Emma has the deceased Jake Fitzgerald's cellphone. Their relationship gets worse when Kieran goes behind her back and tells the police about the encounters she had with the Killer, and Emma starts to hang out with Kieran's cousin, Eli Hudson. They appear to have an "on and off and on again" relationship.
Eventually, after Kieran's "abduction" by the Killer, the two appear to have made up again after Kieran reveals the truth about the car accident and Emma keeps her distance from Eli, not trusting him anymore.
Their relationship comes to a final end in When a Stranger Calls when Kieran is revealed as the Killer, having only pretended to love Emma.
“ | You broke my heart! I loved you, OK? And you broke my heart. The worst part was that you didn't even know you were doing it | ” |
–Audrey to Emma, The Vanishing |
Emma and Audrey were best friends since the third grade. However, when they entered high school they grew apart and eventually stopped talking to each other. Despite that, when Emma found a suspicious recording of Audrey she trusted her enough to give it back to her and lie to the police about it. They bond further as the Lakewood Slasher rampages, with both losing people they love. In the end, Audrey saves Emma's life when Piper almost kills her at the dock by shooting her in the chest.
However, in Season 2, their relationship becomes impeded in many ways. Audrey trying to keep her secret causes Emma to distrust her, and she expresses discontent upon hearing that Emma's father, Kevin, came back to Lakewood (It is currently unknown why). Eventually, Emma finds out about Audrey's secret and ends their relationship, shoving her against a locker. Audrey constantly attempts to get Emma to forgive her, only to be rebuffed every time.
Eventually, Emma officially forgives Audrey after she reveals that the reason Audrey pushed Emma away is because she loved Emma when she was younger and that Emma "broke her heart". After Emma risks her life to save Audrey from Kieran, now revealed as the killer, they work together to stop him. The struggle ends with Audrey harmlessly restraining Kieran while Emma hands him to the police. They are now officially best friends again, bonding as they are seen watching a movie together.
Family
Allies
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Enemies
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Quotes
- Maggie: "I thought teenagers were supposed to sleep til noon and rot their brains on video games."
- Emma: "Maybe I have a defective one."
- — Emma and her mom talking in Pilot
“ | That means that someone at school must've put it in there. | ” |
–After showing Jake's phone to Kieran. |
“ | Wow. All right, enough with the eggshells. Let's go. | ” |
–Emma to Noah, Audrey and Brooke |
“ | I'm tired of all these secrets | ” |
–Emma to Maggie |
“ | If what I saw last night in the woods is real, there's a new killer out there, and all of that, is happening again. | ” |
–Emma to Eli |
- Emma: "Do you have something you want to say to me? Look, I know that you're scared. We are all scared, but we should not be scared of each other, okay? Please do not be scared of me."
- Haley: "But I am scared of you. Everyone who comes around you dies, and your friends should be scared, too, because they're all gonna die."
- Emma: "You have no idea what I went through."
- Haley: "You went through? Piper butchered eight people, but magically didn't touch a hair on your head."
- — Emma and Haley arguing with each other before they start fighting.
“ | Are you supposed to like your friends in high school? | ” |
–Emma |
Trivia
- Emma is the daughter of Maggie Duval and Kevin Duval who were both survivors of the Brandon James murders.
- While appearing more afraid at the start, Emma slowly becomes braver against the Lakewood Slasher.
- Emma is the first lead (female) shown in the TV series and in the franchise, is the second, preceded by Sidney Prescott from the films (up until Scream 5) and succeeded by both Marcus Elliot from Season 3 and Samantha Carpenter in Scream (2022).
- Emma has many traits identical to Sidney.
- Her boyfriend was killed right in front of her, just like Sidney in Scream 2.
- The scene where she slapped Haley Meyers in Dawn of the Dead, resembles the film scene of Sidney punching Gale in Scream and Scream 2.
- Like Sidney's best friend Tatum from Scream, Emma is devastated to see her best friend Riley's lifeless body on the police station rooftop.
- Like Sidney in Scream 2, Emma is traumatized by the Lakewood Murders but while Sidney was more emotionally traumatized, Emma has become more mentally traumatized by flashbacks and hallucinations and disturbing nightmares of childhood past with the James family.
- Like Sidney in Scream 3, Emma deals with nightmares about her past, especially in Season 2, which each hint at the return of their killers.
- This trait is also shared with Marcus Elliot in “The Man Behind the Mask”, which is a reference to Emma's nightmare in Season 1 in “Betrayed”, as both are stabbed by the killers who, in their nightmares, are unmasked to reveal themselves, albeit more complex for Marcus (who had stolen his dead twin brother's identity; much like Sidney's use of the alias “Laura” or Emma's mom, Maggie, as “Daisy”).
- Emma has had a fractured relationship with her father since she and her mother have not spoken to him for a long time.
- She is the first person in the series to get a call from the killer.
- The phone call scene at the end of Hello, Emma with Emma and the Lakewood Slasher took only one take to film. [1]
- Emma and Brooke share a similar experience in the discovery of the dead bodies of their former boyfriends. In the case of Emma, she witnessed the result of Will's death and his bifurcated body in the episode, In The Trenches. For Brooke, she saw Jake's disembowelled body in Happy Birthday to Me.
- Emma's half-sister was revealed to be Piper Shaw in Revelations.
- Emma and Piper's antagonistic same sex sibling (one long lost and one former) duo is the first in the franchise, succeeded by Marcus and Jamal Elliot in Season 3, and by both Samantha and Tara Carpenter in Scream (2022).
- This antagonistic half sibling duo is an homage to both Sidney Prescott and Roman Bridger’s duo in Scream 3.
- In Season 1, a video of her first time with ex-boyfriend Will Belmont was leaked by Audrey and Noah.
- In Season 2, it is shown that she is having hallucinations. She could possibly be suffering from PTSD.
- This makes Emma officially the first character in the franchise to be shown taking medications for her mental health, succeeded by Liv Reynolds in Season 3 and Samantha Carpenter in Scream (2022) and the films, which each female sharing the similarity but differences for each (less Liv, due to the fact that she isn't a lead).
- She is best friends with Brooke Maddox and close friends with her former best friend Audrey Jensen and Noah Foster.
- This is an inverse of the original friends of Sidney from Scream, which included Randy Meeks and Tatum Riley, before they were both replaced by Dewey Riley and Gale Weathers as the true friends when her friends Hallie McDaniel and Derek Feldman (boyfriend) were killed in Scream 2.
- Similar enough to Marcus's remaining friends at the end of Season 3 which included Kym, Hawkins, and Liv Reynolds.
- She suffered a deep slash wound across her stomach by Piper Shaw during their showdown on Wren Lake.
- She suffered a cut on her arm by Kieran Wilcox during their showdown at Blessed Sisters Children's Home in When a Stranger Calls.
- Emma is one of the members of the Lakewood Six.
- She is ranked first by Gustavo Acosta.
- She found Jake Fitzgerald's phone in her backpack in Happy Birthday to Me.
- She currently works as a barista/waiter at the Grindhouse Cafe.
- Emma is officially the fifth blonde female character in the franchise to not be killed, preceded by real life actresses within the franchise (meta) such as Tori Spelling, Heather Graham, and Alicia Silverstone; as well as both film characters Murphy and Kirby Reed, and then by Maggie Duval, Brooke Maddox, Ava Miller, and Becky from the TV series.
- In Heavenly Creatures, she was arrested along with Audrey Jensen after a wrong accusation of killing Mayor Quinn Maddox.
- The situation was later resolved after she, along with Audrey, subdued Kieran Wilcox, Quinn's actual killer in When a Stranger Calls.
- Her student ID number is 30284.
- She is one of 4 characters to have appeared in all episodes.
- She has a tattoo on her left wrist that reads, 'DUVAL', her last name.
- Out of the 3 killers from the show, Emma has killed 2 of them, Piper Shaw (her half-sister) and Tom Martin.
- She spared Kieran Wilcox (her ex-boyfriend) because she wanted him to rot in prison, though he was murdered by The 3rd Killer eight months later.
- All four of her romantic relationships/love interests were killed.
- These include Will Belmont, Eli Hudson, Kieran Wilcox and Tom Martin, respectively.
- Two of these were murderers, who unsuccessfully tried to kill her.
- It should be noted that the only one Emma was truly devastated about was Will.
- She participated directly or indirectly in all of the deaths except for Kieran's.
- Had Season 3, not been a reboot, Emma would have been the sole survivor of the Lakewood Murders and Kill Kieran for good, who would have been revealed to be Alive and survive the 3rd Lakewood Slasher, according to the Showrunners. During the finale, we would hear "cut!" being yelled, revealing the Lakewood Story was just a TV series. In Season 4, Willa Fitzgearld and the rest cast would be playing themselves like Wes Craven's New Nightmare. There would be new murders and the cast would be stalked by a killer in a Ghostface costume. Then the cast would seek out Gale Weathers from the movie series, thus loosely connecting the tv and film series.
- These include Will Belmont, Eli Hudson, Kieran Wilcox and Tom Martin, respectively.
Gallery
Character Photos and Stills
Video Clips
Character Guide
TV Series Characters | ||
Lakewood Five | Emma Duval • Audrey Jensen • Brooke Maddox • Noah Foster | |
Lakewood Residents | Maggie Duval • Miguel Acosta • Gustavo Acosta • Kristin Lang • Gina McLane | |
Previous Lakewood Residents | Kieran Wilcox • Eli Hudson • Zoë Vaughn • Jake Fitzgerald • Seth Branson • Quinn Maddox • Haley Meyers • Tina Hudson • Eddie Hayes • Kevin Duval • Clark Hudson • Nina Patterson • Rachel Murray • Riley Marra • Tyler O'Neill • Will Belmont • Brandon James • Piper Shaw | |
Lakewood Slasher(s) | Piper Shaw • Kieran Wilcox • Third Killer | |
The Deadfast Club | Marcus Elliot • Kym • Liv Reynolds | |
Atlanta Residents | Sherry Elliot • Mr. Fitch • Mrs. Pell • Officer Reynolds • Hawkins • Coach Griffin • Becky | |
Previous Atlanta Residents | Beth • Jamal Elliot • Deion Elliot • Tommy Jenkins • Amir Ayoub • Shane • Manny • B. Westbrook • Luther "Hook Man" Thompson • Latavious • Avery Collins | |
Ghostface(s) | Beth • Jamal Elliot |