Scream Directors Explain Why New Movie Is a Sequel, Not a Reboot

It was confirmed this week that the upcoming new Scream movie, which recently wrapped production, will be officially titled simply “Scream.” Even though the film is the fifth in the series, it’s taking a page out of the Halloween playbook by naming its next entry the same as the first in the series. Though this name scheme might confused some who wonder if it’s a remake of the property rather than a sequel, the directors of the movie have confirmed it’s very much the fifth movie in the franchise. Speaking in a new interview, the movie’s co-director Tyler Gillett opened up on the topic and why a reboot was out of the question.

“I think for us we had this fear, and Matt alluded to this earlier, going into reading the script. There’s just so much weight in what those four movies are,” Gillett told Cinema Blend. “This by the way speaks to the legacy characters. The fact that there are so many characters that so many people want to know more about, want to have more story told with these characters. There’s just a level of love and respect for the world that Wes (Craven) and Kevin (Williamson) created. So for us it felt like the only way to do this right was to create connectivity. And a lot of it is also just what the Scream movies are, right? They’re about lineage. They’re about the evolution of pop culture and the evolution of the genre. And you can’t have something new without also giving a nod to what came before it. And paying respect, and giving a bow to what followed.”

He added, “And so for us it felt like that was the only right way to do it. To have a connection to the past, and to find a way to create new and interesting characters that would bring a new audience and an old audience together. And hopefully move the whole thing forward in a contemporary and terrifying and fun way.”

Those “legacy characters” that are set to appear in the film include Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, David Arquette, as Dewey Riley and Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers, and Marley Shelton as Deputy Judy Hicks. Newcomers in the film include Jack Quaid (The Boys), Melissa Barrera, Dylan Minnette, Jenna Ortega, Mason Gooding, Kyle Gallner, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Mikey Madison.

Scream is scheduled to hit theaters on January 14, 2022.