Warning! Spoilers ahead for Scream 6.
Scream 6 directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet reveal how much Neve Campbell’s exit actually changed the sequel’s story. After their successful fifth film in the franchise last year, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett return for Scream 6, which sees Sam (Melissa Barrera), Tara (Jenna Ortega), Chad (Mason Gooding), and Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) evading a new Ghostface killer in New York City. Although Campbell’s Sidney Prescott was originally supposed to appear in the movie, the franchise veteran elected not to return for the latest film after receiving what she considered to be an unsatisfactory salary offer.
In a recent interview with Collider, Bettinnelli-Olpin and Gillett explain how Campbell leaving Scream 6 affected their plans for the movie’s story. As it turns out, the film’s overarching plot as written by screenwriters James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick actually went largely unchanged. Check out Bettinelli-Olpin’s full comment below:
“We found out early on in pre-production that Neve wasn’t gonna do this one and there had been drafts and ideas and stuff going around, but the thing that Guy and Jamie did that was so great and really helped us is that they had created the structure of the movie that I don’t think ever really changed much. Stuff like the motives, that shifted, but the movie from kind of a bird’s eye view didn’t change that much.
“Obviously we were super bummed when Neve wasn’t going to do it, and the thing that we immediately went to was like, ‘Okay, if we’re not doing this with Neve again, we have to make sure that you fall in love with these characters the way that we all fell in love with Sidney and Gale and Dewey.
“So we took that responsibility really, really seriously and made sure that if we do our job right, you leave this movie going, ‘Oh, I love the Core Four and I want their journey to continue the same way that we all want Sidney and Gale and Dewey to continue.’”
Why Scream 6 Succeeds Without Sidney Prescott
Last year’s Scream introduced audiences to Sam, Tara, Mindy, and Chad, with Sidney, Gale (Courteney Cox), and Dewey (David Arquette) returning in more of a supporting capacity. Scream 6 puts these new characters even more in the center of the story, with both Gale and Kirby (Hayden Panettiere) playing more minor roles. While the legacy characters still help to connect the film to past entries in the franchise, Sam and Tara very much carry the story this time around.
Scream 6‘s box office has broken franchise records and critics’ reviews have been mostly positive, meaning the sequel has largely been a big success. Although it does feel odd to watch a Scream movie in which Sidney is only briefly mentioned, the story simply isn’t about her this time around, and both Sam and Tara make for compelling lead characters. Mindy and Chad are also given more to do, and Danny, played by Josh Segarra, makes for a fun new addition to the cast.
The Scream franchise needs Ghostface but Scream 6 arguably proves that it doesn’t need Sidney. She’s been at the center of a number of movies in the franchise, and maybe it’s now time for new characters to shine. That being said, Campbell has expressed a willingness to return for movies beyond Scream 6, and seeing Sidney face off against Ghostface alongside Sam, Tara, and the others could be an exciting way for her story to continue.
