From 'SOULM8TE' To 'Scream': The New Scream Queens Leading Horror Right Now
The horror genre has never felt more broadly popular, thanks to critical successes like Sinners (2025) and Weapons (2025) and box office hits like Obsession (2026) and Backrooms (2026). Part of that shift has been helped by a strong crop of Scream Queens who have dominated the genre. The term refers to actresses who find consistent success in the genre, delivering strong performances as either the final girl or the victims of the monsters at the heart of the story.
Some of the modern crops are classic takes on that archetype, while others find different genre influences that help broaden their style of movies. Others push the horror genre in exciting ways, incorporating sci-fi elements or drama into their takes on the genre. Among modern stars, these 10 actresses are the best current crop of Scream Queens.
Melissa Barrera
Melissa Barrera may have found her big break in Hollywood thanks to shows like Vida (2018) and musicals like In the Heights (2021), but it's her starring role in several horror films that has cemented her place in the film industry as a modern-day Scream Queen. Barrera's starring role in Scream (2022) helped reinvigorate the franchise in a major way. Following that, she appeared in the Tubi film Bed Rest (2022) before getting terrorized by Ghostface again in Scream VI (2023).
2024 was a bigger year for the actress's horror credentials, with Barrera starring in two pitch-black horror-comedies, the vampire-focused Abigail (2024) and the subversive romantic comedy Your Monster (2024). Although Barrera has said in an interview with Forbes that she's ready to move beyond her Scream Queen status and shift into other styles of film, she's definitely earned her place in that horror movie pantheon.
Toni Collette
A more experienced actress than most of the younger women on this list, Toni Collette is nevertheless one of the most iconic Scream Queens of the last 15 years thanks to some deeply memorable turns that reshaped the genre. Collette made her feature film debut in 1992 but wouldn't appear in a horror film until M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense (1999), which earned her an Academy Award nomination.
She appeared in a few other horror films like Fright Night (2011) and Krampus (2015) before becoming an icon of the genre with her leading turn in Hereditary (2018), where her performance as a mourning mother found critical acclaim that the horror genre doesn't always receive. She's since appeared in Velvet Buzzsaw (2019) and horror-inspired genre features like Nightmare Alley (2021) and Mickey 17 (2025).
Mckenna Grace
After getting her start in Disney XD sitcoms and soap operas, McKenna Grace has solidified herself as one of the more exciting actresses of her era and has found a lot of success in the horror genre. After appearing in The Haunting of Hill House (2018), Grace took a lead role as Judy in Annabelle Comes Home (2019), grounding the horror movie in some key ways.
She gained blockbuster horror experience with her turn as Phoebe Spengler in Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024). Her love for the horror genre is so obvious that she even wrote, executive produced, and starred in The Bad Seed Returns (2022). She's also appeared in Five Nights at Freddy's 2 (2025) and Scream 7 (2026), indicating she's not getting tired of the genre anytime soon.
Mia Goth
After making her cinematic debut in Nymphomaniac (2013), Mia Goth has spent the last decade delivering some of the most interesting performances in the horror genre. After earning international attention for her turn in A Cure for Wellness (2017) and Suspiria (2018), Goth's biggest claim to fame is the X trilogy. Goth plays the Final Girl Maxine Minx in X (2022), surviving a grim encounter with the deadly old woman Pearl while the rest of her friends are killed off.
In a compelling twist, she also starred as a younger version of the killer in Pearl (2022), which explored the origins of the murderer. Goth then brought Maxine back for MaXXXine (2024), blending the final girl trope with a revenge flick vibe. She also appeared in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein (2025) as Elizabeth Harlander, developing an infatuation with the Monster and serving as the tragic core of the film's gothic approach.
Maika Monroe
Maika Monroe appeared in plenty of dramas before finding her breakthrough into the broader spotlight through the horror genre in 2014. That year, she starred in both the thriller The Guest (2014) and the supernatural STD metaphor, It Follows (2015). She has since turned in one of the best performances of her career in Longlegs (2024), carrying most of the horror film on her shoulders.
Thanks to her talents, she took what could have been a retread of Jodie Foster’s work as Clarice in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and brought enough unique energy to it to make it her own. While she’s been appearing more and more in dramas and romances in recent years, she’s currently set to appear in the long-awaited sequel to It Follows that could bring her kicking and screaming back to the forefront of the horror genre.
Kathryn Newton
While Kathryn Newton cut her teeth in comedies and on TV, it was her turn in Paranormal Activity 4 (2012) that really set up her cinematic career. Since then, Newton has balanced her time between comedies and dramas along with a string of successful horror films that cemented her as a Scream Queen in the current era.
What really sets her apart from the other modern Scream Queens is her ability to blend comedy and horror, finding a good balance between the two elements in the body-swapping slasher Freaky (2020), the campy rom-com riff Lisa Frankenstein (2024), the vampire flick Abigail, and teaming up with fellow Scream Queen Samara Weaving in Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2026). Arguably the funniest of the modern Scream Queens, Newton’s natural comedic chops have also served her well in broader films like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023).
Jenna Ortega
Jenna Ortega has become one of the current generation’s biggest stars, largely thanks to her starring turns in horror films. The show You (2018) and the horror-comedy The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020) pushed her into the horror genre; she found a lot of success in that style of film thanks to starring roles in Scream and Scream VI (2023) as the sister of Melissa Barrera’s lead character.
She also appeared alongside Mia Goth in X as part of the ill-fated film crew. She found further stardom as Wednesday Addams in Tim Burton’s Wednesday (2022) and carried on her collaborations with Tim Burton in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024). She also had a lot of fun in the horror-comedy Death of a Unicorn (2025). Ortega is even set to headline the upcoming remake of Single White Female (1992), suggesting she still sees a lot of potential in the horror and thriller genre.
Anya Taylor-Joy
After a few memorable TV turns, Anya Taylor-Joy became a Scream Queen with her starring role in The Witch (2015). The moody and atmospheric period piece was a grim story that really pushed her to the forefront of her generation of actresses, which she followed up with horror movies like Split (2016), Thoroughbreds (2018), and Glass (2019).
While she’s also found a lot of success in dark comedies like The Menu (2022), action flicks like Furiosa: A Max Mad Saga (2024), and the animated Super Mario Bros. movies, she’s kept up her appearances in horror movies thanks to her turns in the horror-infused genre flicks The New Mutants (2020), Last Night in Soho (2021) and The Gorge (2025), which highlights how she’s been able to find the horror in other styles of movies too.
Lily Sullivan
Lily Sullivan may have made her debut in more dramatic fare, but her recent turns in horror movies have helped cement her as a Scream Queen. This extends to her tenure in the sci-fi horror film Monolith (2022), but it was her turn in Evil Dead Rise (2023) that highlighted her potential in the genre.
It was an impressive showing from the actress, capable of maintaining humor and drama amidst all the gore and bloodshed. She followed that up with the post-apocalyptic horror movie Forgive Us All (2025). Her time in Evil Dead Rise impressed director Lee Cronin enough that she was brought back for his take on The Mummy (2026). She's also starring in the M3GAN spin-off Soulm8te (2026).
Samara Weaving
Samara Weaving got her start in Australian TV and has received plenty of attention for her work across genres, but she's perhaps best known for her status as arguably this generation's most prolific Scream Queen. After appearing in Ash vs the Evil Dead (2015), Weaving has made a real name for herself in horror movies like Mayhem (2017), The Babysitter (2017), and especially Ready or Not (2019).
That film not only continued to push her as a horror star but cemented her as a bona fide leading lady, opening the door to plenty of other movies. That has also included The Babysitter: Killer Queen, a memorable brief turn in Scream VI, the grim action-horror Azrael (2024), as well as the darkly comedic thrillers Borderline (2025) and Over Your Dead Body (2026). She's also brought back Grace for Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, appearing alongside fellow Scream Queen Katheryn Newton to great effect.
