Scream is back with a new killer on the loose.

In the first season of the MTV series based on the late 90's horror trilogy, a deranged lunatic targeting the students of Lakewood high school, focused in on 16-year old Emma Duval, played by Willa Fitzgerald. By the season finale, family secrets were revealed, quite a few bodies (including the killer's) were dropped and a possible accomplice was revealed (to the audience).

But despite coming out victorious in her bloody showdown with the Lakewood slasher, it's not yet over for Emma. As the series moves into its second season, someone else is on a killing spree. And based on the trailer, the killer could be a brand new character, one of Emma's friends or maybe even Emma herself.

Enstars caught up with Fitzgerald on set of the series to discuss the second season, her character's relationships with old and new friends, and what it's like being a new icon of horror.

Enstars: How do you think Emma has changed this year following last season's finale?
Willa Fitzgerald: The [premiere] episode starts with her coming back having been at PTSD Camp, as it's called, for several weeks. So clearly she's had a nervous breakdown after everything that happened last season and that has caused her mom to think the best course of action was to send her away to hopefully get some coping strategies. So she's coming back incredibly vulnerable because she's essentially tried to repress and suppress all of the things she's been feeling so she can get back home more quickly. She's trying to normalize really fast, which then leads to her realizing that she really isn't over everything that happened last season and that's gonna be a huge ghost that she's gonna have to deal with.

Do you think a new killer on the loose will trigger those emotions for her?
Totally. Things and conversations can trigger inappropriate or just upsetting responses given what she's been through. I think that as soon as she starts to realize that everything is happening again, she kind of freaks out at first, then that I think is what will ultimately help her gain her confidence back as her friends and loved ones are threatened.

Are Emma and Kieran going to try to work things out?
Throughout the season, Emma is constantly trying to hold on to the people she really cares about and the people who didn't die last season [laughs]. And I think you see at the beginning of this season too that all of the friendships have really strengthened within the Lakewood Six...but Kieran's been the person she's probably talked to the most...and that relationship is a real source of comfort and security, which also makes it incredibly difficult for both of them because she needs a lot from that relationship and Kieran needs a lot from that relationship.

So a new character named Eli is coming aboard as Kieran's cousin. What can you tell us about him?
Emma meets Eli in a mysterious and slightly nerve-wracking way, which kind of sets up the course that their relationship is gonna take--which is definitely a very windy road. There's a lot of secrets, a lot of ups and downs and a lot of just negotiating, not only her relationship to this new guy, but also trying to figure out the relationship that Kieran and Eli have, which is much more complicated than Emma realizes.

What about Emma's relationship with another new character Zoe who's connected to her past?
Zoe is one of those people who Emma was always aware of. I think that Zoe's always kind of kept to herself and she wasn't around last semester when all of the killings happened and in some ways is a really unique character because she didn't go through the hell that all of us went through.

Were you a horror fan growing up? Was being part of a franchise like this something you wanted?
I definitely loved horror movies when I was growing up. I watched so many horror movies alone in my bedroom in high school. I always found it really fun to be scared in that way and I also was just really interested in the relationships that are formed between the people who are either being terrorized or the people who are doing the terrorizing and so it's definitely a huge amount of fun to get to explore the genre because I think it is so right for character exploration and also storytelling.

Based on the promo, it seems like Emma doesn't realize what's real and what's not. Is that going to be teased out?
There's definitely a shift in the way the killer communicates with Emma. And there's definitely some things to suggest that things may not be as they seem, that what Emma believes may not be the truth, that she might be once again having difficulties figuring out what's real and what's not.

How would you compare this season to last season?
I think this season's going to kick some butt! It's pushing past its pre-cursor and forging into new territories and it's just gonna be so good. The writing is so good, directing is so good, the new characters are really exciting.

Scream Season 2 premieres on Monday, May 30 at 11 p.m. ET on MTV.

Read more
Tags
Scream, Television, MTV