Scream creator and screenwriter Kevin Williamson says that Paramount should pay Neve Campbell what she deserves to return as final girl Sidney Prescott. Williamson wrote Scream, Scream 2, and Scream 4 and served as an executive producer or producer on every Scream sequel. Campbell played Sidney in every Scream movie except the most recent, Scream VI.
IndieWire reports that Campbell exited Scream VI over a salary dispute. The actress called it “a very difficult decision to move on.”
“I totally respect her opinion,” Williamson says on the Happy Horror Time podcast. “I know exactly where she’s coming from, I know her well. 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.”
Neve Campbell Played Sidney Prescott 5 Times On-screen Over 26 Years
Despite Campbell passing on Scream VI, the Sidney-less sequel became the highest-grossing Scream movie domestically. Paramount should not interpret that “win” as justification for not paying Campbell what she deserves. “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,” says Williamson. He adds that if Campbell returns to the franchise, he is “absolutely determined” to give Sidney a happy ending.
On the Happy Horror Time podcast, Williamson outlines the story he would have written for Sidney had he continued writing the sequels’ screenplays:
“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. 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?”
In addition to creating Scream, Williamson created the TV series Dawson’s Creek, The Vampire Diaries, and The Following. He also wrote the screenplays for I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Faculty, Cursed, and Sick.
Neve Campbell is known for Party of Five, Wild Things, The Craft, and House of Cards. She currently plays Margaret McPherson on Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer and Raven on Peacock’s postapocalyptic action-comedy Twisted Metal.
