Neve Campbell to return for Scream 7 after exiting franchise over salary dispute

Actor exited ‘Scream 6’ saying at the time that the studio’s offer ‘did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise’

Neve Campbell has announced that she will be returning for Scream 7 after having left the horror-slasher franchise in June 2022 over a pay dispute with the studio.

The 50-year-old actor, who starred as the film series’ recurring protagonist, Sidney Prescott, across the first five films, shared the news in an Instagram post on Tuesday (12 March).

“Sidney Prescott is coming back!!!!” Campbell wrote, alongside a picture of the movie script’s cover. “It’s always been such a blast and an honour to get to play Sidney in the Scream movies. My appreciation for these films and for what they have meant to me, has never waned. I’m very happy and proud to say I’ve been asked, in the most respectful way, to bring Sidney back to the screen and I couldn’t be more thrilled.”

Nearly a year before Scream 6 was released, Campbell dropped out of the film, explaining that the studio’s offer “did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise”. “As a woman I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream,” she said in a statement.

Campbell has also revealed that screenwriter and director Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original Scream (1996), Scream 2 (1997) and Scream 4 (2011) and executive produced the 2022 Scream reboot and its 2023 sequel, will take over as director of the seventh film.

“This was his baby and it’s his brilliant mind that dreamt up this world. Kevin is not just an inspiration as an artist but has been a dear friend for many years. To the amazing Scream fans, I hope you are as excited as I am. See you on set,” she added.

Christopher Landon had originally been brought on to direct the next instalment, but announced in December that he had formally exited the project. “It was a dream job that turned into a nightmare. And my heart did break for everyone involved. Everyone. But it’s time to move on,” the Happy Death Day director tweeted at the time.

The month before Landon announced his departure from Scream 7, Melissa Barrera, who had made her Scream debut in the 2022 reboot, was fired from the forthcoming movie after comments she made on Instagram about the Israel-Hamas war were perceived as antisemitic by the film’s production company, Spyglass Media.

Barrera addressed her firing, arguing that her Instagram posts “shouldn’t be controversial”. “I’m not the first person that’s happened to, but it was shocking,” she told Rolling Stone about her firing.

Landon later confirmed that Barrera’s “shock” firing wasn’t his doing. “Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make,” he said in a statement.

The day after the 33-year-old In the Heights star was dropped, it was reported that her co-star Jenna Ortega had also left the franchise due to scheduling conflicts.