Neve Campbell Officially Confirmed for Scream 5
Neve Campbell is officially reprising her role as Sidney Prescott in Scream 5.
Let’s hope Sidney Prescott has been keeping up with the glut of excellent horror movies in the last decade, because it looks like she’s about to be grilled once more on what’s her favorite scary movie. That’s right, Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott is officially back for Scream 5.
Campbell confirmed the news herself on Instagram when she shared the below video of the iconic Ghostface killer mask, along with the message of “Hello again, Sidney… #ImBack.” And if you click on the video, you see text of Ghostface himself welcoming Sidney back to the franchise with the ominous words of “remember me?”
Campbell of course played Sidney Prescott in all four previous Scream movies beginning with the 1996 original and culminating with the severely underrated 2011 effort, Scream 4. One of Campbell’s biggest roles in the ‘90s, Sidney Prescott stood out among the legion of “final girls” in slasher movies created between the 1970s and ‘90s, not least of all because Campbell’s Sidney had seen all the other movies and knew not to act so oblivious to the creepy stalkers and strange noises.
Unlike any “final girl” before or after her, Campbell’s Sidney has remained the protagonist of every Scream film to date and as their endearing (and enduring) protagonist. Thus she’s arguably the bigger star for the franchise than the Ghostface mask itself. Unlike Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, or the many other slasher monsters, Ghostface’s actual identity is interchangeable across movies, but Sidney remained constant, growing from victim to traumatized survivor to hero across four pictures.
Until Thursday it was ambiguous whether Campbell would return for Scream 5. Originally believed to be more a reboot, the new installment in the slasher genre is the first to not be directed by Wes Craven, who passed away in 2015, nor written at least as a story outline by Kevin Williamson (the latter is staying on as executive producer). However, the picture is written and directed by the creative unit Radio Silence, who was behind 2019’s darkly comical madcap fun, Ready or Not. Yet slowly but surely the original three leads of the past four movies have all signed on to return to the franchise, including Courteney Cox, David Arquette, and now Campbell.
While Campbell previously said she had met with the new directors, she was the last to sign on. When we spoke to David Arquette recently for his new documentary You Cannot Kill David Arquette, the actor told us, “I just hope that Neve comes back too so we can all be in it together. She’s such an important piece to this, she’s really the heart and soul of it.” It appears Arquette got its wish, and Scream 5 again has its heart. Now, to just keep it beating with a Ghostface or two running around…
Scream 5 opens on January 14, 2022.
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David Crow is the movies editor at Den of Geek. He has long been proud of his geek credentials. Raised on cinema classics that ranged from…