When it comes to upcoming horror movies, there are some incredibly buzzy titles lurking around the corner, including next year's Scream 7. With the 2.0 version of the horror franchise giant finding its footing, casting announcements quickly followed, including the surprising and spoiled news of David Arquette returning as Dewey Riley. Initially, the shocking slip took the fun out of the confusing, but thrilling reprisal for me. That is, until I heard the actor and film producer talk about stepping back into the role.
While Arquette talked to US Weekly about his 2025 movie schedule flick Mob Cops, Scream 7 snuck into the conversation (set to premiere in February 2026). When David Arquette's Dewey was killed off brutally in Scream 5, fans were devastated that there was going to be a Woodsboro without him. Now we know that somehow Officer Riley will be back, and the casting is just as exciting to the 53-year-old as it is to the fans. Though, he did confirm his return wasn’t supposed to be public knowledge ahead of the release, and the leak ruined the shock value. The Cougar Town actor said:
I love playing the role of Dewey. I’ll always love playing the role of Dewey. So, any opportunity [to do it]. But that was a spoiler. It was supposed to be the surprise — and somebody leaked it. So I was kind of like, ‘Oh, that’s a bummer.’
Truly, Scream fans everywhere, in my opinion, would’ve been floored by this particular reveal live on the big screen (and regardless of personal opinions of how it fit into the film). Dewey was a huge source of light and humor in the first five installments, so many enjoy that fact that he’s signed back on, even if it’s perplexing at the moment. Even with these monkeys getting let out of the barrel prematurely, hearing Arquette is onboard leaves me more excited than ever for the 2026 film. He’s not the only legacy character either, if you haven’t heard:
- Neve Campbell has returned to star as Sidney Prescott, along with Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers.
- Scott Foley has signed on to reprise Scream 3’s Roman Bridger and is as confused as fans.
- Matthew Lillard rejoined the franchise and has been dodging spoilers left and right.
- Isabel May signed on as Sidney Prescott's daughter, and Joel McHale joins as her husband, Mark Evans.
Casting is shaping up to be A+ material for legacy and newcomers alike. What Prescott and co. will go through remains to be seen, especially when talking about the deceased alumni. Regardless of the mystery plotline, knowing that the Happy Face Killer alum loves Dewey as much as many fans do has me mostly over the chaotic, but linked departures of Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega. After all, the sweet cop had reigned over Woodsboro before the Carpenter sisters.
Now we’ll just have to see if David Arquette’s return to Scream 7 will be prolific enough to rank with some of the best horror movies out there. If his performance matches his enthusiasm in talking about coming back to the franchise, all will be more than alright over here. In the meantime, I’ll be streaming all the Scream movies until we hear more news on the seventh flick.
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