‘Scream VII’ reportedly eyeing Neve Campbell’s return in creative overhaul

24 November, 2023

Actress Neve Campbell attends Los Angeles Confidential's "Women Of Influence" tea party event at Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills on June 9, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic)

It is being reported that production company Spyglass is looking to bring Neve Campbell back for Scream VII following the departures of two major franchise leads this week.

According to a report from Variety, Spyglass is in the process of a creative overhaul for the seventh instalment of the Scream franchise after they fired Melissa Barrera earlier this week, followed by Jenna Ortega’s withdrawal from the film.

Spyglass is reportedly looking at bringing back longtime franchise lead Neve Campbell, who has been involved in every Scream film with the exception of this year’s Scream VI over a pay dispute. Additionally, Variety also reports that Spyglass is thinking of bringing Scream 3 antagonist Patrick Dempsey back for its upcoming seventh film.

However, it is important to note that Variety has claimed that neither Campbell nor Dempsey are in “active negations” for a return.

Melissa Barerra – who plays Sam Carpenter in 2022’s Scream and sequel Scream VI – was dropped from the upcoming seventh instalment after writing an Instagram post in support of Palestine earlier this week.

In a post on her Instagram Stories, the Mexican-born actor wrote: “I too come from a colonized country. Palestine WILL be free. They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds.” In another post, she added: “Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp. Cornering everyone together, with no where to go, no electricity no water. People have learnt nothing from our histories. And just like our histories, people are still silently watching it all happen. THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING.”

Barrera later claimed there was “censorship” in Western media which “only shows the other side” of the conflict from Israel’s perspective.

After it was reported that Barrera had been “quietly dropped” from the franchise, production company Spyglass confirmed she had been let go due to the posts. “Spyglass’ stance is unequivocally clear: We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech,” the Spyglass statement read (via IndieWire).

The following day, it was reported that fellow Scream VI lead Jenna Ortega will not be returning for the seventh instalment, but that her departure was apparently not related to Barrera’s firing.

In a four-star review of Scream VI, NME‘s Alex Flood wrote: “Scream VI isn’t perfect: the constant meta references (past killers, the ‘rules’ of the franchise) felt inventive in last year’s reboot, but here grow tiresome. Luckily, such is the sheer, bloody joy of the thing that you’ll be too preoccupied to notice.”

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