Earlier today the announcement came that Scream fans have been waiting for as Paramount Pictures confirmed Neve Campbell will return to the franchise as the original final girl Sidney Prescott for the new film. The actress took to Instagram to official confirm the news, giving her post with Ghostface the hashtag “#ImBack” after it was made official. Campbell returns to the series after having appeared in each of the previous four movies, and joins a cast that sees her reunited with co-stars David Arquette and Courteney Cox as Dewey Riley and Gale Weathers, respectively. It was previously unclear if Campbell would return as she said in an interview earlier this summer.
Videos by ComicBook.com
“I got this really, really respectful letter from the directors of the new one,” Campbell shared with The Hollywood Reporter this past May. “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.”
She continued, “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. 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.”
Scream fans aren’t the only ones excited to see Campbell return either, as her co-star David Arquette previously called her the “heart and soul” of the entire series.
“We have to get Neve, that’s the real thing,” Arquette told ET Online. “She’s the heart and soul of the Scream franchise, so to get Neve would be a really tremendous thing. Like, I’ve seen her at conventions and stuff and it’s just almost like family. We all have gone through this experience together and it’s — we’re all really sad about the loss of Wes…I would love for her to be a part of it. mean, she’s such an important– she’s the heart and soul of it.”
Other cast members that will appear in the new film include Jack Quaid (The Boys), Melissa Barrera (In the Heights), and Jenna Ortega (You). The new Scream will be helmed by Ready or Not directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and is currently scheduled to hit theaters on January 14, 2022.