(Spoiler alert: Don’t read this if you haven’t seen “Scream Queens’” two-hour series premiere episode.)
A few early victims bit the dust and a few early suspects emerged in the two-hour series premiere of Fox’s horror comedy “Scream Queens.”
Ariana Grande‘s fashionable Kappa Kappa Tau sorority girl Chanel #2 earned the distinction of being the first victim of the Red Devil, the masked and caped killer who sets its sights on the sorority house already hiding a few secrets of its own.
By the end of the show’s first two hours, KKT’s new pledge “Deaf Taylor Swift” had also been offed at the hands of the Devil and at least one culprit in cahoots with the mysterious killer was revealed.
Nick Jonas‘ frat brother character Boone seemed like a sure bet to be one of the show’s earliest victims, but his early demise was quickly turned on its head when the end of the two-hour premiere left off on the reveal that Boone helped the Red Devil fake his own death.
“It’s a fun little twist,” Jonas told TheWrap. “I was thrilled when I read it because it meant I might be coming back. And I am, which is good. You’ll see more of me later on in the series and it’s a great story for my character Boone. As it unravels it just gets more and more intense.”
Another character who seemed to have nefarious ulterior motives was Diego Boneta‘s character Pete, who seemed like the quintessential nice guy upon first introduction. However, a potential dark side – and an old infatuation with Emma Roberts‘ mean girl Chanel – was pretty quickly revealed even as he grew closer to Skyler Samuels‘ KKT pledge Grace.
Creator and showrunner Ryan Murphy makes each actor do one take as if they’re the killer and we have now seen the first example of that: During one scene, Pete gives a rather sinister look towards Grace as she walks away.
“All I know is Ryan goes, ‘Okay, play this scene like you love Grace. Okay, now play it like you want to kill her,’” Boneta told TheWrap. “And then I have no idea what ends up getting there. Ryan cuts it, and then this guy [the Red Devil] comes around.”
It’s entirely possible the choice to use the “killer” take was an unsubtle hint towards Pete’s connection to the killer.
Of course, the show isn’t hurting for suspects with motives to want to hurt KKT sisters. Jamie Lee Curtis‘ Dean Munsch certainly seemed to be harboring some bitterness towards the mean girl clique, while Oliver Hudson’s Wes Gardner was pretty intent on keeping his daughter out of a sorority by any means necessary.
And there’s the mystery of what happened to the baby born in the house 20 years earlier — the horrifying incident which left the baby’s mother dead and a major cover-up that’s bound sorority sisters together for decades.
“Scream Queens” airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.
See “Scream Queens” star Keke Palmer’s interview from cover spread in TheWrap Magazine Fall TV Issue:
