Surprise, Sidney...

It’s now official: Neve Campbell will reprise her role as Sidney Prescott in the upcoming fifth Scream movie. She joins other original cast members, Courteney Cox and David Arquette, in returning for the latest sequel. This will be the first Scream film since 2011 and the death of original director Wes Craven in 2015.

In Craven’s place, Scream 5 is being directed by the team known as Radio Silence, who gave this statement on the casting news to Bloody Disgusting:

 We’re pinching ourselves! It’s hard to express how much the character Sidney Prescott shaped our love of movies and to have the chance to work with Neve is truly a dream come true. It just wouldn’t be a Scream movie without Neve and we’re so excited and honored to join her in Woodsboro.

Campbell said that “after spending time speaking with Radio Silence, they have shown such love, respect and admiration for Wes Craven and all that he’s created in the Scream franchise” she was “beyond excited” to return to the series. The original trilogy of films, created by writer Kevin Williamson with Craven, completely rewrote the rules of slasher movies in the mid-’90s, and inspired an entire wave of meta-textual horror. The fourth filmed followed a decade after the first three Screams; a TV spinoff later ran for three seasons on MTV.

Scream 5 is scheduled to be released in theaters on January 14, 2022. The film is expected to go into production next spring in North Carolina.

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