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Hayden Panettiere Called the ‘Scream’ Team Herself to Bring Back Kirby: ‘I Wanted to Be In It That Badly’

Reprising a fan-favorite role! Hayden Panettiere will appear in Scream 6 as Kirby Reed, returning to the franchise after first appearing in the fourth installment in 2011.

Related: 'Scream' Cast: Where Are They Now?

“I called them up myself and was like, ‘So, you guys don’t, like, happen to want to bring Kirby back, do you?’” Panettiere, 32, said during a Wednesday, July 6, appearance on Good Morning America. “I wanted to be in it that badly,” the Heroes alum added of her decision to contact the Scream production team directly.

Panettiere, who did not appear in Scream 5, will be joined by Courteney Cox, who has appeared in all five Ghostface movies. “I did not die so yes, you will see me,” Cox, 58, told Variety in June. “Gale’s pretty strong. She may not ever [die], but who knows!” she said of her character Gale Weathers.

Hayden Panettiere Called the ‘Scream’ Team Up Herself to Bring Back Kirby
Hayden Panettiere. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

The Friends alum’s fellow Scream OG Neve Campbell will not be returning. “Sadly, I won’t be making the next Scream film,” Campbell, 48, said in a statement to Us Weekly in June. “As a woman I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream. I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise.”

Panettiere’s return to the franchise comes after several years away from showbusiness. The Remember the Titans actress recently opened up about her struggles with alcoholism and postpartum depression. She told Good Morning America that when things got hard, she turned to “the bottom of a bottle” for comfort.

Related: 'Scream' Cast Reacts to Neve Campbell Not Returning to the Franchise

“I didn’t have any negative feelings towards my child. I just knew I was deeply depressed and I didn’t know where the alcoholism was ending and the postpartum was beginning and I ran myself pretty ragged,” Panettiere shared.

The New York native continued, “I felt like I was walking blind and there was nobody there that was really able to support me in the way that I needed to be supported and I don’t like to ask for help either. You know, I wanna be that strong stoic woman. …When you see a happy-go-lucky girl for years suddenly on the floor in a puddle of mess and alcohol, you gotta know something’s wrong.”

Panettiere, who said she is “grateful to say that I’m sober today,” shares 7-year-old daughter Kaya with her ex Wladimir Klitschko. Both Kaya and Klitschko, 46, currently reside in Ukraine.

“Watching how she has handled this whole Ukrainian situation has really blown my mind,” the I Love You Beth Cooper star told Good Morning America of her daughter. Panettiere, who founded Hoplon International to help bring relief and aid directly to Ukrainians on the frontlines, said Kaya is “very safe” with her father.

Related: ‘Scream 6': Everything to Know About the Movie

The Guiding Light alum added of her daughter, “She’s my favorite little person.”

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