Scream: Kristen Stewart Reflects on Nearly Joining Franchise, Weighs in on Upcoming Sequel

Actor Kristen Stewart has starred in her fair share of horror films, but one opportunity that she passed on was the opening scene of Scream 4, as she wasn’t interested in attempting to recapture the effectiveness of Drew Barrymore’s death in the original Scream. That sequel ended up taking a different approach to the opening scene, using multiple actors instead of just one, with Stewart going on to address whether she’d be interested in returning to the franchise if the chance arose, noting that she would at least read the script. Scream 6 is slated to start shooting this summer.

“So it’s the Drew character that gets killed in the beginning,” Stewart recalled to Slant about the role she passed on. “And they created a whole sequence where a lot of people got killed to emulate the Drew thing. But it was just going to be one person, and I was like, ‘I can’t do a Drew. I can’t touch that.’ Do you know what I mean? But, yeah, so then they ended up doing, if I’m remembering correctly, a larger sequence and not just one victim.”

The finished sequence had a layered approach, as it served as movies within movies, allowing stars like Kristen Bell, Anna Paquin, and Lucy Hale to all meet their demise in the film’s opening sequence.

Earlier this year, the fifth film in the series went back to basics, featuring one terrifying sequence in which Ghostface torments a single character. The success of this sequel resulted in the announcement of a follow-up, with Stewart going on to reflect on the franchise.

When asked if she would be open to a Scream 6 appearance, Stewart revealed, “Maybe. I would read the script. I love Neve Campbell so much. She was very nice to me, and it was very satisfying that she’s a very nice person. I love that movie. I’ve watched it recently, as an adult though. It’s so gnarly. I love the movie because it loves movies. The coolest part of Scream is what it says about film. It’s so self-aware. It folds in on itself like six times. I love how much [Wes Craven] loves movies and how embedded that is. It’s a total film nerd type of movie. It’s not just a slasher flick. It’s a beautiful movie. It’s so hard to watch. I’m like, ‘I don’t have the stomach for that shit anymore.’ I was like, ‘Oh, man, this is very, very, very intense.’”

Scream 6 doesn’t yet have a release date.

Would you like to see Stewart in the franchise? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars.