Neve Campbell Confirms She's Returning For Scream 8

Spyglass Media and Paramount’s Scream 8 doesn’t even have a director yet, but franchise star Neve Campbell made it clear that she’s returning as Sidney Prescott (now Evans).

via: Bloody Disgusting

When prolific horror filmmaker Wes Craven died in 2015, many of us assumed that some of his legacy projects died with him. One of the last projects he was involved with was MTV‘s Scream: The TV Series, which premiered just weeks before his passing and ultimately ran for three seasons. The big-screen Scream franchise, though, was assumed to have been put on hold indefinitely.

Then, in 2022, filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett pulled off the nearly impossible by reviving the series with a fifth film, which introduced new characters along with bringing back Neve Campbell‘s Sidney Prescott. Due to a pay dispute, Campbell sat out Scream VI though solved the dispute with Scream 7, which went on to become the top-grossing entry in the entire franchise. There are still many unknowns about the next chapter in the saga, but now we know that Campbell is set to return for the new sequel.

While listing a variety of projects she has on the horizon with the Associated Press, Campbell listed Scream 8. When pressed for more details, Campbell joked, “You know I can never tell you anything about Scream 8.” Though she added, “I’ll be in it.”

It’s always exciting to know that Neve Campbell has a new horror movie on the horizon, but it’s hard not to have mixed feelings about this update.

One of the reasons the 2022 Scream felt like such a breath of fresh air and succeeded at reviving the dormant franchise was that, alongside bringing back Campbell — as well as franchise veterans Courteney Cox and David Arquette — it also introduced compelling new protagonists in Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega‘s Carpenter sisters. When Campbell sat out Scream VI, the saga was finally able to pivot into fresh territory by not having to solely rely on legacy characters.

Scream 7 may have become the top-grossing installment in the series, but it also holds the worst score on Rotten Tomatoes by a significant margin. After the announcement of the sequel, Barrera was fired from the project for showing support on social media for Palestine. Ortega also didn’t return for the sequel, citing scheduling conflicts with Season 3 of Wednesday. It was arguably this pivot away from the new character and back to the legacy figures that resulted in such disappointing reviews.

With Campbell on board with this project from the start, hopefully it bodes better for the overall development of the sequel and this next one can score a more positive reaction from viewers.

Scream 8 doesn’t yet have a release date.

Are you glad to see Campbell returning for the next sequel? Let us know in the comments below!