Spoilers ahead for Scream VI.
The horror genre has been in a renaissance for a number of years now, resulting in a number of beloved franchises returning to theaters. Chief among them is Wes Craven’s Scream, which is widely known as one of the best horror movies of all time. Two more sequels recently hit theaters in quick succession, with Scream VI breaking franchise box office records last weekend. And the directors recently revealed Courteney Cox’s deleted scene, and the Gale Weathers story that was "never on the table."
The 2022 Scream movie was the first installment produced since the death of Wes Craven, so directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett had some very big shoes to fill. But as superfans they rose to the occasion, leading Paramount to quickly order another sequel. That pair of filmmakers recently spoke to our very own ReelBlend podcast about all the spoiler-y contents of Scream VI. When asked if Courteney Cox’s Gale was always going to survive the movie’s ending, Gillett got honest and said:
We always knew Gale would survive, it was never on the table. We’re still living with the residual sadness of losing Dewey. And that doesn’t mean we wanted to make a movie that pulled punches. Gale was never on the chopping block.
There you have it. While Gale very nearly perished during her first Ghostface call in Scream VI, she ended up being saved at the last minute by Sam and Tara Carpenter (Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega). And it seems like the team at Radio Silence never toyed with the idea of killing the beloved OG character, mostly because it would be too soon after the death of David Arquette’s Dewey.
The 2022 Scream movie featured all three of the original trio of heroes, while also introducing the new set of siblings known now as the Core Four. But no one was safe from Ghostface, with Dewey ending up being killed off around halfway through the movie… and the kill was gnarly. And as a result, the Scream VI directors never considered actually killing Gale.
But it turns out there was originally another scene for Gale, which ended up on the cutting room floor. As Tyler Gillett shared on ReelBlend, she could have gotten a scene recovering in the hospital. He said:
At one point we had a monologue for her that she was delivering from a hospital bed. But it felt sort of like a hat on a hat and was clouding that moment of the end really being about the Carpenter sisters. But she was never on the chopping block for us.
Points were made. While Scream fans would no doubt have loved to get one more scene with Courteney Cox’s Gale Weathers, the story was ultimately about the Carpenter sisters oming together and dealing with their issues… all while fighting back against Ghostface.
Scream VI is still in theaters now. Be sure to check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. We’ll just have to see how long it takes Paramount to order yet another sequel from this filmmaking team.
