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Did Scream create a generation of dark romance fans? Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard are not impressed

Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard reacted to their Scream characters fueling the dark romance subgenre

An image of Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard in Scream — Image credit: Miramax

News by Jules Chin Greene, Staff Writer

Published on Mon Sep 29 2025

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Dark romance books have certainly been having a moment the past couple of years, and the subgenre came to the attention of Scream stars Skeet Ulrich, Matthew Lillard, and Jamie Kennedy this year at Los Angeles Comic Con 2025.

At the Scream reunion panel, Ulrich, Lillard, and Kennedy welcomed questions from fans for the duration of the panel. And at one point, a fan asked Ulrich and Lillard if they had any thoughts about the phenomenon where millennial women are into reading dark romance books because of Ulrich and Lillard's Scream characters, Billy Loomis and Stu Macher - an idea that prompted the rest of the audience to cheer in seeming agreement. In response, Skeet Ulrich said, "People are fucked up" and laughed.

Neither Lillard nor Kennedy seemed to be familiar with what dark romance was, leading the fan who asked the question to describe the subgenre as featuring "killers, and stalking" that then turns into a love story. After hearing this, Lillard joked, "Yeah, I think we need more therapy in the world."

Jamie Kennedy, who played the police officer Randy Meeks in the first 3 Scream movies, joked, "I tried to warn you how not to die, but you guys are lusting over a couple of killers."

The real question, however, is what would Gale Weathers' thoughts be on this?

In the immortal words of Danny Elfman, "Life's no fun without a good scare." Join Popverse's weekly explorations of the best opening moments of horror cinema in The Coldest Open, and then check out:

And much gore. Er, more. Much more.

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Jules Chin Greene: Jules Chin Greene is a journalist and Jack Kirby enthusiast. He has written about comics, video games, movies, and television for sites such as Nerdist, AIPT, and Multiverse of Color.