Billie Lourd discussed the callback to her role in Ryan Murphy’s TV series Scream Queens in her new movie, Adulthood. Scream Queens aired for two seasons on Fox, following a group of friends as they try to solve who is behind a series of gruesome murders. Emma Roberts, Abigail Breslin, Keke Palmer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Riley Schmidt, Glen Powell, Oliver Hudson, and Nicey Nash also starred.
Lourd appeared in all 23 episodes of Scream Queens as Chanel #3 – referred to that way because Roberts’ lead character, Chanel Oberlin, couldn’t be bothered to remember her friends’ names. The character’s real name is Sadie Swenson, and among some of her defining characteristics in the show were her earmuffs.
In Adulthood, now available via video-on-demand, Josh Gad and Kaya Scodelario star as siblings who discover a dead woman’s body in their mothers’ basement. Lourd plays the mother’s nurse, Gracie, who blackmails the siblings by saying their mother confessed to her about murdering the woman. In fact, Gracie is one of the first characters we meet in the movie, and, as a recent ScreenRant interview with Lourd discussed, she is a bit reminiscent of Lourd’s Scream Queens character, particularly from Season 2:
“ScreenRant: Billie, you kind of introduce us to this whole movie. You’re in the very first scene. The scrubs and the headphones made me feel like it was something that Chanel #3 might wear.
Billie Lourd: It’s really giving Chanel #3 with the scrubs. If I just had those ear muffs. And the thing about the hair; the hair is its own animal in this movie. I’ve never been so crimped in my life. Crimping ain’t easy. It’s hard out here for a crimp. I’m really dropping really fire rap lines here.
But yeah, it does have a little inkling of Chanel #3 in it with the pink scrubs and the crazy big hair. I had to have the wired headphones. Bluetooth was suggested and I said, “Absolutely not. We’ve got to have that thing hanging.”
It’s absolutely nuts. And I love that it’s a little callback to a little Scream Queens doctors thing, which is so insane that we were doctors, but we love it. We support the Chanels always.”
The Scream Queens Legacy Lives On
Though Scream Queens only lasted two seasons and hasn’t been on air in nine years, the Ryan Murphy-created series – along with co-creators Ian Brennan and Brad Falchuk – remains a fan-favorite for many; ScreenRant included it on a list of the 10 best “trashy” TV shows that are actually great.
The series also helped serve as the launching pad for a number of today’s biggest stars. That includes Keke Palmer and Glen Powell, as well as Ariana Grande, in one of her first big non-Nickelodeon roles.
There’s also some potentially good news for fans of the show, as earlier in 2025 it was reported that Murphy and Lourd are developing a “secret project.”
Our Take On Billie Lourd’s Scream Queens Callback
It’s always fun when movies make callbacks like these to actors’ previous roles. It’s just a cool nod to Lourd’s fans.
With the callback serving as some kind of introduction, perhaps that will get some to check out Adulthood, which has a solid rating on Rotten Tomatoes of 77% as of writing.
- Release Date
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September 19, 2025
- Director
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Alex Winter
- Writers
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Michael M.B. Galvin
- Producers
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Lisa Wolofsky, Russell Hollander, Scott Kroopf, H.S. Naji, Michael Cho, Tim Lee
