Neve Campbell Would Consider Returning to Scream

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Neve Campbell is toying with Spyglass and the makers of Scream 7, and it’s delicious. Speaking with Variety at the BAFTA Tea Party (which sounds like something middle-aged husbands get dragged to), Campbell said she’s open to returning to the Scream series “under the right circumstances.” Given that she turned down an appearance in Scream 6 because they wouldn’t pay her enough, one assumes she’s at least partly talking about salary, but her further comments suggest she may want a good script as well:

“I honestly don’t have no idea what their plans are… I know a lot has gone on around it and I’m sure they’re spinning a little bit at the moment… These movies mean a lot to us and they mean a lot to the fans. I go to these conventions sometimes and I meet  the fans and they’re frantic about these films. They love them. These films mean a lot to them and these characters mean a lot to them. So even for their sake, I would love to see it continue.”

I hope that’s true and that she has good enough taste this time because she assured everyone the franchise was in good hands when she agreed to show up for Scream 5. However, some comments she made a few months ago indicate that Campbell was unaware of some of the plot elements of Scream 5, particularly killing off a certain character. (Spoilers if you haven’t seen it):

“I thought it was tragic and I don’t usually like to criticize the writing in these projects… But I was really disappointed in their choice to get rid of David. Dewey’s such a wonderful character, and I think we were all in love with him and I think we all felt pretty sad about that. Which of course is the reason they do it, because it has more impact, but now I miss him. I want to see more of him.”

It wasn’t just killing Dewey, but everything leading up to it; like Han Solo and Indiana Jones and Luke Skywalker and others before him, they turned Dewey into a pathetic loser who’d lost Gail for good and was an alcoholic shell of his former self, then unceremoniously discarded him, offering no shot at redemption. Interestingly, once again, they inverted what Wes Craven – who, unlike the two hacks who took over for him, actually cared about Scream – did in Scream 4, where he also created that scenario but allowed Dewey and Gail to overcome it and find each other again.

All that aside, I’m glad Neve Campbell is stringing them along like this now that she knows they want her back because the way Spyglass and the rest of the people in control of Scream have treated her is appalling. If Scream 5 and Scream 6 didn’t make it clear enough that they don’t care about the series, the way they undervalued Campbell should. It would be one of the great turnarounds in modern Hollywood if the mess Scream 7 has become leads to the rebirth of the series, with Sidney Prescott returning in the lead, where she belongs, and the movies being more than the junk they used to mock. Now, we need Gail back and zombie Dewey, the Ghostface killer. (Maybe even zombie Randy, if they go that route, with a lecture on the desperation of resurrecting dead characters to fix a dying franchise, mixed in with bringing back the original heroine.)