Horror fans have been blessed with a bold new generation of Scream Queens, from “Wednesday” star Jenna Ortega to Mia Goth of “X” and “Pearl,” to “Yellowjackets” stars Jasmin Savoy Brown and Sophie Thatcher, not to mention the women of “Fear Street,” Stranger Things” and Mike Flanagan’s deliciously spooky “Haunting of…” Netflix series.
Here’s some of our favorite final girls — and vicious villains — from recent horror films and TV series.
Jenna Ortega
The Emmy-nominated “Wednesday” actress, who’s so good at being bad as the Addams Family character, also starred as Tara Carpenter in fifth and sixth “Scream” movies and Ti West’s ’70s slasher “X.” And she’s in Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice” sequel, which is set to be released in September 2024.
Mia Goth
One of the busiest and most booked actresses in the genre has drawn raves for her roles in “X,” “Pearl,” “Infinity Pool” and “Suspiria.” She also appeared in the thrillers “A Cure for Wellness” and “Marrowbone” and stars in Ti West’s upcoming “X” sequel “MaXXXine.”
Jasmin Savoy Brown
Brown, who plays Teen Taissa on spooky Showtime series “Yellowjackets,” played Mindy Meeks-Martin in the 2022 and 2023 “Scream” films. She also played a serial killer who witnessed the murder of her own family in the disturbing 2014 horror movie “Sound of Violence.”
Sophie Thatcher
The actress plays Teen Natalie on “Yellowjackets” and also starred in this year’s “The Boogeyman,” based on a story by Stephen King. She previously costarred as a teenager dealing with the murder of her sister in the 2020 series “When the Streetlights Go On.”
Natalia Dyer
Besides playing resourceful Nancy on “Stranger Things,” Dyer also played an art gallery assistant who keeps stumbling across bodies in the Netflix movie “Velvet Buzzsaw” and an unlucky murder victim in the Peacock serial killer comedy series “Based on a True Story.”
Sadie Sink
Sink’s recent horror run includes playing Max, our favorite skateboarding video game champ and Kate Bush lover, on “Stranger Things.” She also stars as Ziggy Berman in Netflix’s “Fear Street” trilogy. Prior to that, she was in the 2019 movie “Eli” from “Sinister 2” director Ciaran Foy.
Millie Bobby Brown
We love her as powerful telepathic, Vecna-fighting El on “Stranger Things” and as Madison Russell in the last two Godzilla movies.
Victoria Pedretti
Besides starring in Mike Flanagan’s perfectly frightful Netflix horror series “The Haunting of Hill House” and “The Haunting of Bly Manor,” Pedretti also played Love Quinn on Netflix’s “You.”
Kiernan Shipka
The former “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” star, whose teen witch was very, very different from the ’90s TV version, also stars in the Prime Video movie “Totally Killer” as a high schooler who goes back in time to save her mom from a stabby masked assailant and in the 2019 thriller “The Silence.”
Sophie Wilde
Wilde absolutely slays as a grieving teen who takes possession too far in this year’s fantastic Australian horror film, “Talk to Me.” She also stars in the MGM+ magical series “The Portable Door” and the BBC/ Netflix murder mystery “You Don’t Know Me.”
Anya Taylor-Joy
The “Queen’s Gambit” star first came to notice as the lead of Robert Eggers’ 2015 movie “The Witch” and went on to star as a lab project gone wrong in 2016’s “Morgan” and a chic 1960s singer in Edgar Wright’s “Last Night in Soho.”
Mckenna Grace
The 17-year-old “Haunting of Hill House” star has played both screamers and scream-inducers in films including “Annabelle Comes Home” and “The Bad Seed.” She’s also done dystopian horror with “The Handmaid’s Tale” and real-life horror with the Peacock true crime series “A Friend of the Family.”
Kate Siegel
The actress often appears in the films and TV series of husband Mike Flanagan, including his Gothic, literary-inspired Netflix series “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “Midnight Mass,” “The Haunting of Bly Manor” and “The Haunting of Hill House.” She also starred as a deaf woman stalked by a killer in his 2016 movie “Hush” and in “Ouija: Origin of Evil” the same year.
Georgina Campbell
The star of last year’s “don’t go in the basement” hit “Barbarian” is one of our favorite Final Girls in recent history. She also starred in “Bird Box Barcelona” and the “Hang the DJ” episode of “Black Mirror.”
Maya Hawke
The actress, whose dad, “The Black Phone” star Ethan Hawke also has an impressive horror resume, played fan favorite Robin Buckley on “Stranger Things” and unfortunate Shadyside Mall employee Heather Watkins in “Fear Street Part One: 1994.” She also voices supervillain Abyss on “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.”
Kiana Madeira
The “Fear Street” star, who played Deena Johnson in the Netflix horror trilogy, also co-starred in the Syfy Channel series “Dark Matter” and the genre movies “She Never Died,” “Never Knock” and “The Night Before Halloween.”
Olivia Scott Welch
Welch played cheerleader Samantha “Sam” Fraser in the 1994 installment of “Fear Street” and Hannah Miller in the segment set in 1666. She is also in two 2023 horror films: “The Sacrifice Game” and “Blue Rose.”
Taissa Farmiga
The star of “The Nun” and its 2023 sequel also has four stints on “American Horror Story” under her belt, as well as the underrated 2015 indie horror comedy “The Final Girls.” And yes, she is the younger sister of “The Conjuring” star Vera Farmiga.
