Scream 7 writer teases ‘really specific reason’ for Neve Campbell’s return as Sidney Prescott
'Scream 7' writer Guy Busick has said there is a "really cool reason" why Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott has returned for the upcoming slasher film.
‘Scream 7’ writer Guy Busick has teased there is a "really specific reason" why Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott has returned.
After sitting out 2023’s ‘Scream VI’ due to a row over her salary, the 51-year-old actress has reprised her iconic scream-queen role, and ‘Scream 7’s writer Guy Busick has revealed there is a "really cool reason" why Sidney is back.
In an interview with ComicBook.com, the scribe said: "I don’t want to give anything away about the reason ['Scream 7'] had to be a Sidney movie because there’s a really cool reason.
"In all these movies, you have to ask, ‘Why now? What is the thing ‘Scream’ is commenting on now?’ ‘Scream’ is always in a conversation with the audience about the state of movies, the state of horror movies and in particular, franchises."
Busick added he had first pitched the idea for Sidney’s return to director Kevin Williamson, which he had come up with alongside his ‘Scream’ and ‘Scream VI’ co-writer James Vanderbilt.
He explained: "There is a really specific reason why Sidney is in this movie. I will say there is a reason and we were happy with it when we cracked it.
"We went to Neve Campbell and said, ‘This is why. This is why Sidney now.’ Neve was like, ‘Oh, I get that.’ I pitched Kevin this first, too.
"He got it and then I pitched the studio. I came up with the story with my co-writer on 5 and 6, James Vanderbilt."
As well as Campbell, ‘Scream 7’ will see the return of some other series icons, including Courteney Cox’s Gale Weathers, Matthew Lillard’s Stu Macher, David Arquette’s Dewey Riley and Scott Foley’s Roman Bridger.
However, Busick admitted the original idea for ‘Scream 7’ “was a completely different thing”, as it would have focused on the 'Core Four' - the Meeks-Martin twins Chad (Mason Gooding) and Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown), and Carpenter sisters Tara (Jenna Ortega) and Sam (Melissa Barrera).
However, after Ortega and Barrera exited the project - with the latter actress being dismissed by Spyglass Media Group following her controversial comments about the war in Gaza - the ‘Scream 7’ team "had to start from scratch".
Busick explained: "We weren’t able to use what we had in the previous iteration for this one. [We] just had to start from scratch, which was a bummer.
"We were excited about what we had for that movie. We wanted to do one more ‘Core Four’ movie. We know the fans love those characters. We love those characters. We created those characters. I would love to see, in some universe, the continuation of their characters, in some way. But we weren’t able to port over the stuff from the other story.
"It was like, ‘Okay, here is what the universe dealt us.’ We always wanted to do a Sidney movie and so it was like, ‘All right, let’s get into it and why now and why this one?’"
