Scream creator Kevin Williamson is hoping Neve Campbell, who played Sidney Prescott in the hit horror films, eventually makes a return to the franchise after she exited last year due to salary disputes.
During a recent interview on the Happy Horror Time podcast, the writer-producer-director said he “totally respect[s] her opinion,” but he hopes something can be figured out for future movies.
“I know exactly where she’s coming from, I know her well,” Williamson said. “I love and adore her and that’s what she did. It’s right for her. I love everyone involved in Scream and all I can say is, pay her the money. That’s what I would do, I would give her the money.”
He continued, “I’m sure there’s a number they can agree on that will make them both happy, so hopefully one day they will figure that all out.”
Campbell revealed in June 2022 that she would not be returning for the then upcoming sixth sequel over salary negotiations. Though she said it was a difficult decision, she added in a statement at the time, “As a woman, I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream. I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise.”
She later said in an interview with People magazine, “I did not feel that what I was being offered equated to the value that I bring to this franchise, and have brought to this franchise, for 25 years. And as a woman in this business, I think it’s really important for us to be valued and to fight to be valued. I honestly don’t believe that if I were a man and had done five installments of a huge blockbuster franchise over 25 years, that the number that I was offered would be the number that would be offered to a man.”
Williamson wrote the screenplay for the first four Scream films but James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick took over writing the fifth sequel in 2022. Williamson, who still serves as an executive producer for the franchise, also shared on the podcast what he had planned for Sidney if he continued to pen the scripts.
“Scream IV, V, and VI, would have been [about] the love story of Sidney Prescott, and it would’ve been this whole thing of she’s falling in love, she’s going to get married, it’s all based around her marriage when these murders start happening again,” he said. “It’s like, is this man that she’s in love with the killer again? Is she Billy Loomis-ing herself all over again? Is she still making the wrong decisions? Is she still choosing the bad guy?”
Williamson added that if Campbell does return and reprises her role as Sidney, he is “absolutely determined” that her character gets a happy ending.
Scream VI, which was released in March, is currently streaming on Paramount Plus, and Scream 7 is currently in the works with Christopher Landon directing.