| “ | Ooh, suspects! My brother would be so proud! | ” |
–Martha to her twin children and their friends. | ||
Martha Meeks is a minor character introduced in Wes Craven's Scream 3 (2000 film). She later re-appears in a cameo role in the Radio Silence reboot, Scream (2022 film). A resident of Woodsboro, California, she is a member of the Meeks family.
In her first Scream franchise appearance, she has a minor role as the 17-year-old younger sister of late horror film geek, Randy Meeks, a dear friend of Sidney's, and a fellow Woodsboro Murders survivor, who later became a victim of the Windsor College Murders.
She visits Sidney and former Deputy Sheriff Dewey Riley amid the later-cancelled Stab 3: Return to Woodsboro set killings to deliver a warning tape left behind by her late older brother before his untimely death at age 18. She appears close to Sidney and Dewey. Despite this, she is unseen at Sidney's book signing when Sidney returns to Woodsboro in Scream 4 (2011) prior to the Second Woodsboro Murders in 2011, indicating she relocated.
In her second franchise appearance, she is approximately 39 years old amid the Third Woodsboro Murders, also known as the Legacy Killings, which occurred in September 2022 (the 26th anniversary of the original massacre). She is revealed to be a mother to 18-year-old fraternal twins, Mindy and Chad Meeks-Martin in the film. Her former partner is alluded to being Joel, a Scream 2 character whose news van was an accessory to her brother's murder.
She is played by Heather Matarazzo.
Biography
Background
Martha Meeks was born in late-1982 to Mr. Meeks and Mrs. Meeks (both are mentioned by Sidney in Scream 3). She was born approximately four years after her older brother, Randy Meeks. As the younger Meeks sibling, she was approximately thirteen years old when the original Woodsboro killing spree occurred.
Randy had feared a third killing spree might happen because of his knowledge regarding these matters. He had given the tape to his younger sister for that possibility so that she could show it to his friends in case of such an event.
The Windsor College Murders (1997)
Amid the murders in approximately Spring 1997, Randy delivered a final warning tape to his younger sister before his murder. Martha who resided back in Woodsboro, California, would have only been near 15 years old during his murder.
Following Randy's death, Sidney expresses grief and says she should call his mother, but Dewey reveals he covered it. This covertly reveals Dewey was the one to indirectly give the news to Martha her brother's demise.
The Hollywood Murders (2000)
At the beginning of the year 2000 (events of Scream 3), she is 17 years old (the same age as her brother was when he was attacked during the original Woodsboro Murders).
Around this timeframe, as a minor, she somehow snuck onto the cancelled Stab 3: Return to Woodsboro set at Sunrise Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California (possibly accompanied by or with help from her parents).
Waiting in a trailer, she intended to deliver a videotape Randy filmed shortly before his demise at Windsor College to Dewey Riley.
In her first Scream appearance, she unexpectedly reunites with two old family friends, both Dewey and Sidney herself, now out of hiding (who she is surprised to see). She also meets reporter Gale Weathers amid this. As the four watch inside the trailer, Randy explains the rules of a horror movie trilogy to them in case he shouldn't survive the second killing spree, something that he had feared because of having lost his virginity.
They thank her for having shown them the video and say goodbye to her. She then returns to Woodsboro, but not before telling them her wish to see them back someday there.
Relationship and Motherhood
Martha apparently developed a relationship with Joel, a man whose news van was a murder accessory to Randy's murder, 3 years later. Martha discovered she was pregnant and gave birth four years after the events of the third film, aged twenty-one, to Chad and Mindy Meeks-Martin in approx. September 2003.
While the kids were growing up between approx. 2012–2015 in Woodsboro, California, Martha would have Samantha Carpenter come over and babysit the twins for her. The kids grew fond of her, as well as Tara, Sam's younger sister who was around their age. It was a long-term babysitting gig, as Mindy mentions Sam allowed Chad to wear Pokémon onesies to bed for a year. However, Samantha soon abandoned her family, age 19 (approx. 2017), which is when the babysitting gig would have also ended (when her kids were fourteen).
In absentia
She is not present during the Second Woodsboro Murders in 2011, nor is she seen at Sidney's book signing for Out of Darkness, the 2011 self-help novel.
The Woodsboro Legacy Murders (2022)
In 2022, Martha re-appears as a mother for the first time, alongside her eighteen-year-old children, the twins, Chad Meeks-Martin and Mindy Meeks-Martin for the Third Woodsboro Murders. They live together with a shrine to Randy in their home.
She greets Chad and Mindy's friends and serves them snacks, saying "Ooh! Suspects!" before awkwardly noticing Dewey's dishevelment, and tries and fails to be polite about it.
Martha appears to be in a state of detachment from the situation, unaware that Dewey and Gale are also separated. Chad then jumps in, and says they are "good", before she finger-points at him, to imply she is watching him like a hawk.
However, she apparently is not. It is revealed through text messages with her son's girlfriend, Liv McKenzie that Chad sneaks out. Unbeknownst to Martha, they have agreed to throw a party for Wes Hicks at none other than 261 Turner Lane, the former residence of Stu Macher, who attempted to kill her brother. Both of her children are stabbed and almost murdered. It is unknown how Martha reacts to the events of the Legacy Killings, however, she is relieved that they are alive.
The New York City Murders (2023)
She isn't seen with her children when they went to New York City with their former babysitter, Sam Carpenter, and their fellow survivor and friend, Tara Carpenter.
Family
Allies
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Enemies
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Quotes
- "Don't shoot! I'm only seventeen."
- "We miss you in Woodsboro, guys."
- "Bye Dewey, come visit us soon."
- "You be careful too, Sid."
- "Tell me that's his ex-girlfriend, I'll shoot myself." (Gale to Sidney about Martha, regarding Dewey).
- "Ooh, suspects! My brother would be so proud!"
- "Dewey! Hey! You look... How's the wife?"
- "Okay, kids... have fun."
Trivia
- Randy's video was originally set to be delivered by Randy's mentioned fling, Karen Kolchak. It is possible this was changed in order to the allude to the fact that Sidney, like Martha, also has a brother (that she is unaware of).
- Martha is likely familiar or had a vague acquaintance with Tatum Riley, her older brother and Sidney’s friend.
- She is likely familiar with Judy Hicks through vague acquaintance in high school. Also, they possibly knew each other through their children; Chad and Mindy being friends with Judy’s son, Wes.
- A Meeks family member appears in all films except Scream 4 (2011).
- Unexplained: Martha's non-appearance in Scream 4 (2011); she later re-appeared in Woodsboro eleven years later. From dialogue, it is revealed Sam also babysat her children, meaning she was living in Woodsboro sometime afterwards at least, during the early-mid 2010s, approx. 2012—2016. She was possibly still married to Joel and lived elsewhere during this time, or simply returned if her elder parent was sick.
- It is also highly unlikely she was simply living there off-screen, as she is not present during Sidney's book tour in Woodsboro.
- Her explicit age reference in the third film reveals she became a parent young in her life, to two fraternal twin children at the age of 21.
- Melissa Barrera accidentally leaked Heather Matarazzo's spotted return on the set of Scream, which hinted at and eventually confirmed Martha's return.
- Her partner, the other parent (surname Martin) of her twin children, Chad and Mindy Meeks-Martin has not made an appearance.
- Given Mindy was declared the first canon LGBT character in the Scream film franchise, it is unknown if Martha (like her actress) is an LGBT character yet to be revealed and this partner is a woman.
- So far, she has the largest age jump in a physical appearance from her first appearance to her second in a sequel, as Scream films three, four and five have an eleven-year release gap each. (Billy Loomis does not count, as his re-appearance is a hallucination).
- Second sequel character to appear in another sequel after Judy Hicks.
- Dewey believes Martha bares a resemblance to her older brother Randy, though he never clarifies if it is her physical appearance or her personality.
- On March 16, 2022, Heather Matarazzo (who portrays Martha) did a Twitter Q&A with fans. She re-fuelled speculation after she claimed to know the identity of her on-screen twin children, Chad and Mindy's father. She liked a tweet, asking her to "confirm or deny" with a screenshot of Joel.
- Actor Duane Martin's surname is also, of course, Martin, a possible nod to his character all along. This corroborates previous uses by Radio Silence using an actor's surname for an unidentified surname of a character, such as Kenny Brown and W. Earl Brown.
- However in the script for the fifth film, it says that her husband is a man named Carlos.
- Heather Matarazzo is the first cast member in the scream franchise to actually be a teen and playing a teen. Next would-be Emma Roberts as Jill Roberts in Scream 4, although Roberts was 19 during filming and Jill was 18. Next in the TV Series, Brianne Tju was 16 just like her character, Riley Marra. Bella Thorne was 18 when she played Nina Patterson, who was 17. During Season 2, Kiana Ledé was 18 while her character Zoë Vaughn was 16 or 17. Then during filming for the 5th film, Jenna Ortega was 17, but turned 18 a few days. However, her character Tara Carpenter is said to be 18 about to be 19 (there is a little conflict with the actual ages of the Carpenter sisters). Jack Champion was 17 during the filming of the 6th film, however the ages of his friends are said to be 19. For the film series, Matarazzo and Champion are tied as the youngest cast members, both being 17 during filming. If including the TV series, both are 2nd to Tju, who was 16 when she played Riley. It should be noted that Tju was the same age as Riley (Both being born in 1998 and being 16).
Gallery
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Martha Meeks has a Photo Gallery. |
Appearances
Character Guide
| Scream 3 Characters | ||
| Principal Characters | Sidney Prescott • Gale Weathers • Dewey Riley • Ghostface | |
| Recurring Supporting Characters | Randy Meeks • Cotton Weary | |
| Supporting Characters | Angelina Tyler • Christine Hamilton • Jennifer Jolie • John Milton • Mark Kincaid • Martha Meeks • Roman Bridger • Sarah Darling • Steven Stone • Tom Prinze • Tyson Fox | |
| Recurring Minor Characters | Neil Prescott • Maureen Prescott • Hank Loomis | |
| Ghostface | Roman Bridger | |
| Scream (2022) Characters | ||
| Core Four | Samantha Carpenter • Tara Carpenter • Mindy Meeks-Martin • Chad Meeks-Martin | |
| Principal Characters | Richie Kirsch • Wes Hicks • Liv McKenzie • Amber Freeman • Ghostface | |
| Supporting Characters | Deputy Farney • Deputy Vinson • Vince Schneider • Judy Hicks | |
| Legacy Characters | Dewey Riley • Gale Weathers • Sidney Prescott • Billy Loomis (hallucinations) • Randy Meeks (photo) | |
| Ghostface(s) | Amber Freeman • Richie Kirsch | |
| Recurring Characters | Judy Hicks • Martha Meeks (cameo) • Kirby Reed (photo) • Jennifer Jolie (photo) • Roman Bridger (archive footage of Scott Foley) • Tori Spelling (photo) • Casey Becker (Stab)/Heather Graham (photo) • Billy Loomis (Stab)/Luke Wilson (photo) | |
| Cameo Characters | Deputy Keith • Frances • Christopher Speed (fiction) • Principal | |