Vida Star Melissa Barrera Cast In Scream 5

Melissa Barrera will join Courteney Cox and David Arquette in Scream 5, the horror relaunch releasing 25 years after the Wes Craven-directed original. The 30-year-old In The Heights and Vida star is the first new cast member to be added to the sequel, which hands over the reins to V/H/S and Ready or Not directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett following Craven’s death in 2015. Craven helmed the four Scream films between 1996 and 2011, all starring Cox and Arquette as Gale and Dewey Riley, who work with Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) to halt a series of slayings carried out by the masked Ghostface killers.

Details behind Barrera’s role, first reported by Deadline, have not been revealed. Barrera confirmed the news on her Instagram story and is just the third cast member to be added ahead of a planned late 2020 shooting start in Wilmington, North Carolina.

In May, Campbell confirmed “conversations” with the film’s creative team, which counts James Vanderbilt (Zodiac, The Amazing Spider-Man) and Guy Busick (Ready or Not, Castle Rock) as screenwriters. Campbell has not yet boarded the new movie, admitting to feeling apprehensive over a Scream without Craven.

“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. So, we’ll see,” Campbell told The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re just in the beginning phases of negotiations, and we’ll have to see where it goes with COVID and everything. There are a lot of things up in the air such as when we’ll actually get to make the movie and how we can even reenter this business at the moment.”

Earlier this month, Arquette told ComicBook.com he hopes to reunite with Campbell on the project expected from Spyglass Media and Paramount Pictures in 2021.

“I love playing the character Dewey. It’s had such an important role in my life,” Arquette said. “As an actor, you try to do films that work, that entertain people, that audiences get a kick out of. You seldom do something for a small audience, to talk to a very niche group. The horror fan base is huge so when you really connect with them, and then it even goes beyond that, it’s a really special thing.”

“When [the directors] approached me, I was in first, and now we’ve got Courteney on board, hopefully, Neve will join the team and then we can shoot this thing,” he added.

Scream 5 is expected to open in 2021.