Scream veteran Courteney Cox has officially received the script for the slasher franchise's sixth big-screen entry.
During an appearance on Just for Variety with Marc Malkin, Cox revealed that not only is she back for Scream 6, but that the film is expected to enter production in three months' time. "I got the script yesterday," she said. "I haven't read it yet, I just got it... I'm excited to read it, and I know they're gonna start filming I think in June, in Canada." She then joked, "I don't know if I'm supposed to say anything. Let me tell you the killer!"
Cox first played the role of Gale Weathers in the satirical 1996 slasher film Scream. Alongside Neve Campbell and David Arquette -- who played Sidney Prescott and Dwight "Dewey" Riley, respectively -- Cox subsequently reprised her role in 1997's Scream 2, 2000's Scream 3 and 2011's Scream 4.
Most recently, Cox, Campbell and Arquette reprised their respective roles in the franchise's fifth feature film, simply titled Scream, which released in theaters this past January. The fifth Scream film was directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett of Radio Silence from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. The film was met with primarily positive reception and made $139.5 million at the box office against a budget of $24 million.
With that in mind, it came as no surprise when a sequel was greenlit in early February. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett return to direct Scream 6, with Vanderbilt and Busick returning to pen the script. At the time, it was announced that filming would begin this summer, though a more specific window was not given. "We are tremendously grateful to the fans around the world who enthusiastically received our film," Paramount and Spyglass said in a joint statement. "We can't wait for audiences to see what Radio Silence, writers Jamie and Guy and Project X have in store for our Woodsboro family."
With 2022's Scream passing the torch to a new generation, it was unclear whether or not legacy stars like Cox or Campbell would return for Scream 6. However, it seems safe to say that we haven't seen the last of Gale Weathers, which will naturally lead to speculation that Campbell's Sidney Prescott can't be far behind. That said, a return by Arquette seems unlikely, seeing as how Dewey -- a character with a long history of cheating death -- finally saw his luck run out in the fifth film.
Scream (2022) is currently available on Digital and will release on Blu-ray on April 5.
Source: Just for Variety with Marc Malkin, via CinemaBlend