Campbell returns for more scares
After opting not to return to Scream 6 because of a salary dispute, franchise star Neve Campbell has announced she'll return to the series for its upcoming seventh instalment.
“Sidney Prescott is coming back !!!! ” Campbell posted Tuesday on Instagram. “It's always been such a blast and an honour to get to play Sidney in the Scream movies. My appreciation for these films and for what they have meant to me, has never waned. I'm very happy and proud to say I've been asked, in the most respectful way, to bring Sidney back to the screen and I couldn't be more thrilled!!!”
Scream creator and writer Kevin Williamson will take over as director on Scream 7, which Campbell said was a dream come true. The filmmaking duo known as Radio Silence, comprised of Matt Bettinelli-olpin and Tyler Gillett, directed and produced the previous two Scream films.
“This was (Williamson's) baby and it's his brilliant mind that dreamt up this world,” Campbell wrote. “Kevin is not just an inspiration as an artist but has been a
dear friend for many years. To the amazing Scream fans, I hope you are as excited as I am.”
After starring in five films in the series, Campbell announced in 2022 that she would not return for the sixth entry. “I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise,” she said in a statement at the time.
Campbell's return comes after news that Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, who starred in the most recent Scream films, will not return for the seventh movie.
Barrera was fired over controversial posts she made amid the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, while Ortega stepped away due to her upcoming shooting schedule on Netflix series Wednesday.
The original Scream opened in 1996 and cast Campbell as a high-schooler who was being targeted by a horror-movie obsessed killer nicknamed Ghostface. The film's success at the box office led to four more instalments, also starring Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette.
In a 2022 interview with Postmedia, Campbell said she wasn't surprised by the franchise's enduring appeal more than a quarter of a century after its release.
“People really loved the first one, and when you really love a movie, it's fun to revisit the characters and it's fun to see something familiar. Especially when it's done well each time, which I think we've managed to do a good job of. That's rare in franchises. “I think people have their favourites, but there's something about each one of these films I think people really love,” Campbell said. “There aren't that many franchises, really ... everything just came together on that one and we were very lucky.”