Scream star Neve Campbell has discussed the legacy of Wes Craven and how Scream 5 can work without the horror legend directing for the first time in the series' 24-year history.
Following the recent news that Campbell is in early talks to reprise her role as Sidney Prescott for Scream 5, the former franchise lead told The Hollywood Reporter what she thinks about revisiting the franchise. "I definitely had a period where I was thinking it would just be too odd to do a movie without Wes, and I wasn’t certain that I would want to do that," confessed Campbell. "But, I think enough time has passed. I got this really, really respectful letter from the directors [Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett] of the new one."
She continued, "They came to me with Scream 5, and these directors are incredibly talented. They wrote a letter honoring Wes in such a beautiful way, and they expressed that the reason they make horror movies is because of Wes and the Scream films. They also expressed how blown away they are at the idea of actually getting an opportunity to make one of them and how much they want to honor and respect Wes’ vision. It was just beautiful, and I was really grateful. I had really thought that the only way I’d step into a new project with new directors is if they really wanted to honor him." Campbell also reiterated Scream 5 is in its earliest stages and the recent COVID-19 pandemic could affect things.
Craven released Scream in 1996 and reinvented the slasher genre for a whole new generation. As well as being a meta take on horror movies, the original Scream spawned a franchise of three sequels, which released between 1997 and 2011. Although there were plans for Scream 4 to kick-start a new trilogy, the movie's underperformance at the box office and Craven's passing in 2015 led to plans being scrapped.
The story was then rebooted with the Scream TV series from MTV. After two seasons, VH1 moved ahead with a six-part miniseries that brought back Ghostface voice actor Roger L. Jackson and served as yet another reboot. While there have been consistent whispers of a new movie, Spyglass Media Group only officially announced Scream 5 in late 2019.
There's no word yet on the story of the film or Campbell's co-stars Courteney Cox and David Arquette will reprise their roles as Gale Weathers and Dewey Riley, but with all three "original" survivors making it out of Scream 4 alive, there could be more horror on the horizon for the Woodsboro Three.