Neve Campbell May Return for Scream 7

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Surprise, Sidney! Melissa Barrera’s removal from Scream 7 may have paved the way for the horror series to bring back its true heroine. Barrera was the new lead of the series, with the Ghostface curse (for lack of a better term) transferred to her character from Sidney Prescott, who had previously been stalked by a series of killers in the popular Halloween costume. (It’s as stupid as it sounds.) But Barrera isn’t the only new regular who won’t be coming back; Jenna Ortega, who played Barrera’s sister in the last two films, is also declining to return because of scheduling conflicts with the second season of her hit Netflix show Wednesday. This has Spyglass, the studio that now produces the Scream movies, reeling and trying to find a new direction for the series. According to a Variety exclusive, they may be looking to Neve Campbell, the former star who departed the franchise over a salary dispute (and had her role whittled down to a glorified cameo anyway). They’re also considering asking Patrick Dempsey, who played a cop named Mark Kincaid in Scream 3, to come back.

Aside from the situation with Barrera (which I already spoke about, but briefly, I don’t think people should lose their jobs over their political beliefs, but considering the way that side has behaved when it’s happened to actors with opposing beliefs over the last few years, I’m not exactly losing sleep over it), it’s amusing to me how the people who threw Neve Campbell to the curb for a younger cast suddenly need her. Scream has been Sidney Prescott’s story from the beginning, and the Ghostface killers have always had a personal tie to her. This isn’t a torch that can be passed; it’s tied to Sidney as a character. Scream 4 even used this as the basis of its plot, with the subtext of trying to replace the lead of a franchise with a younger hero portrayed as evil. After completely negating this with 5 and 6, it’s delicious watching them have to at least try to give Scream back to its rightful queen (who, by the way, is the greatest final girl of all time). As for Patrick Dempsey, JoBlo says that Scream 6 suggested his character was Sidney’s husband; I didn’t catch that, but I’ve seen Scream 3 the least of the first four because it’s my least favorite, and he’s mostly referred to as Kincaid in that film, so I didn’t remember his first name. That’s fine; I didn’t think much of his character, but I didn’t dislike him or anything. But having Sidney back is raising my interest in a new Scream movie even more than learning that Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett won’t be directing it; if ever there were an argument for why the director of a movie matters, the transition from Wes Craven to those two is it.