Gale Weathers (former Riley) is a fictional character of the Scream film series, created by Kevin Williamson and portrayed by Courteney Cox. The character first appeared in Scream (1996), followed by four sequels: Scream 2 (1997), Scream 3 (2000), Scream 4 (2011) and Scream (2022). Gale Weathers appears in the Scream films as an ambitious, strong-willed journalist and writer who is initially built up as an antagonist, but ultimately joins forces with Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and Dewey Riley (David Arquette), the latter of whom she eventually falls in love with and marries, in order to investigate and stop the Ghostface murders.