As the Scream franchise’s original ‘final girl’ reunites with its original writer, the duo plans to take the slasher films back to their roots.
Kevin Williamson, who launched the franchise in 1996 with the late director Wes Craven and returns to direct Scream 7, recently explained in Ashley Cullins’ new book, Your Favorite Scary Movie: How the Scream Films Rewrote the Rules of Horror, that he and star Neve Campbell decided it was “time to reset” the franchise back to Craven’s original vision of horror.
“Neve wants to go back to the first one and find the suspense and really concentrate on scary and not bloody,” Williamson explained in an excerpt posted by Bloody Disgusting. “She was smart. She goes, ‘This is the time to do it because we’re moving away from New York. We’re going back to Sidney’s life. This is the time to reset a little bit. And I’m like, ‘Yup, let’s do it.’”
The upcoming installment comes after Scream VI took the action from Woodsboro to New York City, also serving as the first film in the franchise not to feature Campbell’s Sidney Prescott, following a pay dispute with the actress. With Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega not reprising their roles as sister survivors Sam and Tara Carpenter, the focus is back on OG ‘final girl’ Sidney.
Williamson added, “I have made it very clear, I think publicly too, that Sidney has been through so much torment, and she has been through so much trauma, that to give her anything less than a happy ending is mean. It’s just sacrilegious.”
Neve Campbell in ‘Scream’ (2022)
Everett Collection
The director returns to the franchise after he wrote the first two Craven-helmed films in 1996 and 1997, as well as the 2011 franchise refresh Scream 4.
Set to hit theaters on Feb. 27, 2026, Campbell joins returning stars Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Scott Foley, Matthew Lillard, Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding, as well as newcomers Joel McHale, Isabel May, Celeste O’Connor, Asa Germann, Mckenna Grace, Sam Rechner, Michelle Randolph, Jimmy Tatro, Anna Camp, Mark Consuelos and Ethan Embry.