Sienna Shaw is a fictional character in the Terrifier franchise. Sienna first appears in Terrifier 2 (2022) as a teenager interested in cosplay who battles the enigmatic villain Art the Clown. She is portrayed by Lauren LaVera, who will reprise the role in further installments. Sienna's creator, Damien Leone, invested a lot of time into fully developing her as a character as he regretted leaving the first film's heroine Victoria Heyes underdeveloped. The character originates from an abandoned film Leone was developing in the late 2000s, featuring the concept of a Valkyrie-angel warrior attired heroine battling Art.
LaVera was the only person Leone considered for the role. LaVera spent months questioning Leone for preparation and developed a full binder of notes about Sienna—asking him who inspired the character and having him create a playlist that he believed Sienna would listen to. Leone states that LaVera is the first actor to show immense care and interest for a character he wrote, helping him further develop her. Leone describes Sienna as his favorite character that he has ever created.
The character's Halloween costume drew a significantly favorable reaction from fans—LaVera, however, was not fond of the attire as it was uncomfortable for her to wear. The outfit was not complete by the time filming began, and it did not have lining; LaVera had to wear duct tape to hold the attire together throughout the shoot and even obtained blisters. Sienna was well-received by critics and audiences, with much of the acclaim going toward her characterization and LaVera's portrayal. Sienna has been referred to as LaVera's breakthrough role and a contemporary example of the "final girl" trope.
Appearances
Film
The character made her cinematic debut in Terrifier 2 on October 6, 2022. In this film, Sienna (Lauren LaVera) is a teenage girl living with her widowed mother and her younger brother Jonathan following the death of their father. She has been developing cosplay for an angel-warrior character that her father created for her before his death. He also gave her a sword. Jonathan believes their father envisioned Sienna as the only person capable of defeating Art the Clown. Sienna begins having bizarre encounters with Art—both in her dreams and in real life. After engaging in a battle with Art to defend her brother, Art kills her with her father's sword before it resurrects her, and she decapitates him.
Future
Damien Leone has confirmed that the character will return in Terrifier 3 and the potential Terrifier 4. In an interview with Variety, Leone stated that "Sienna is crucial to the franchise moving forward."
Development
The conception of Sienna Shaw dates back to 2008—with Damien Leone envisioning an angel-warrior-attired heroine to battle Art the Clown for a feature-length follow-up to his directorial debut short film The 9th Circle (2008). The project got scrapped, and Leone abandoned the Sienna character concept.
Following criticism from critics and fans for ''Terrifiers (2016) underdeveloped protagonists, Leone wanted to bring back Sienna as the heroine of Terrifier 2. Leone spent three consecutive months in 2017 writing a screenplay with much of his focus on developing Sienna. He has stated that he based much of Sienna's characteristics on his two older sisters and that the character was very personal to him. Leone wrote the character with mythic religious undertones, envisioning her as a teenage girl slowly transforming into the embodiment of an Old Testament angel that is the equivalent to Art's representation of a resurrected demon.
Lauren LaVera was ultimately cast in the role; she said that Leone and actor David Howard Thornton described the dynamic between Art and Sienna as something inspired by the relationship between superhero Batman and supervillain Joker of DC Comics during a lunch shortly after her casting. Leone stated that out of all the actors he has worked with, LaVera showed the most interest and care for one of his characters—consistently questioning him about his intentions for Sienna and even journaling for the part to understand who she believed Sienna to be. LaVera had Leone make a playlist for her that he envisioned the character listening to. LaVera describes Sienna as reflecting Leone in personality. Valkyrie Costume