What you should know about Elizabeth Scopel, who plays Sarah Fier in the Fear Street trilogy on Netflix. Despite having minimal on-screen time in the first film of the series, Fear Street Part One: 1994, the character is crucial to the story as a whole. In the July 2021 Netflix release, which is directed and co-written by Leigh Janiak, Scopel makes her legally recognised feature film debut.
Sarah Fier’s genesis story is revealed in Fear Street Part One: 1994 through multiple interactions and character exchanges. She was accused of witchcraft and given the death penalty while residing in Shadyside circa 1666. Sarah utilised black magic during the execution to sever her hand and establish a corporeal presence in the area. According to the gruesome Fear Street Part One: 1994, Shadyside citizens were under the one-handed witch’s control for several hundred years, which led to horrifying killings that gave the town the nickname “Killer Capital USA.” In the first Netflix film, Sunnyvale cheerleader Samantha Fraser (Olivia Scott Welch) accidentally bled on the witch’s bones, reawakening the ghost of Sarah Fier.
Scopel portrays Sarah Fier in Fear Street Part One: 1994 from Samantha’s point of view. The first act’s awakening moment occurs after which the protagonist of Welch’s story tells her friends that she actually saw the Shadyside Witch. A second vision of Sarah in anguish while being hung from a Shadyside tree occurs to Samantha after she drowns and passes away while attempting to outwit the undead. By introducing Gillian Jacobs’ C. Berman (who previously survived an attack by dying and resurrecting herself), Fear Street Part One: 1994 teases the prequel Fear Street Part Two: 1978 and also establishes the background context for Fear Street Part Three: 1666, in which Scopel reprises her role as the “Real” Sarah Fier.
Scopel appeared in a number of short films before the Fear Street trilogy, including Local Hero (2010), Ghosted: Get Some (2017), and Skin the Wire (2019). She additionally played Noni in one episode of Grave Secrets’ second season and Britt Mills in “Can’t Unring That Bell,” a Chicago Med episode from the fourth season. Scopel may also be recognised by viewers of FBI: Most Wanted as Daisy/Mia Anderson from the season 1 episode “Prophet.” In Augustine Frizzell’s made-for-TV movie Half-Empty, which was released in 2019, she made her acting debut as Julie (Euphoria, Sweetbitter). With her ground-breaking performance in the Fear Street trilogy, Scopel enters the mainstream.
There isn’t much biographical information about Scopel on her official website (elscopel.com), but there are plenty of images from her previous theatre appearances and a link to her three-minute demo reel. In Fear Street Part One: 1994, the actress makes good use of her expressive eyes to convey the agony and perplexity of her character, which translates to Welch’s portrayal of Samantha. In Fear Street Part Two: 1978, Scopel reprises her role, and in Fear Street Part Three: 1666, the “Real” Sarah Fier makes an appearance. Actress Kiana Madeira portrays Deena and a different Sarah Fier. The R. L. Stine novel series is the inspiration for the Fear Street trilogy on Netflix, which will keep coming out in July 2021.
