The horror genre was built on long-running scary franchises, which continue to have box office power decades after their inception. Some of the best horror movies returned to theaters thanks to new sequels, including Wes Craven’s slasher Scream. Another sequel has been filmed, and Scream 6’s Jenna Ortega explains how it’ll approach Neve Campbell’s absence.
The upcoming sixth Scream movie will mark the first instalment without Neve Campbell as franchise hero Sidney Prescott. The actress cited a pay dispute as the reason she dropped out, to the dismay of generations of fans who are already bummed that Dewey was killed off. Jenna Ortega will be back as Tara Carpenter, and recently spoke to ET about how the new sequel will be handling the lack of Sidney Prescott. In her words,
I feel like I can't really speak too much on that just because it's not necessarily my character. But I will say there's so much going on in this next one, that it's so action-heavy and so gore-heavy that I think you're gonna be distracted almost.
Interesting. With Scream 6 not arriving until the spring, it makes a great deal of sense that Jenna Ortega might be trying to guard the horror flick’s spoilers. Especially since there were already rumors of a trailer leak. But it looks like the movie won’t completely be ignoring Sidney Prescott, despite Neve Campbell unfortunately not appearing as her signature character.
Jenna Ortega’s comments to ET come as she's promoting her new Netflix show Wednesday, and have the potential to be a relief for some Scream fans, who might have conflicted about the upcoming sixth movie. It’s almost impossible to imagine the slasher without its protagonist, but that’s exactly what we’re going to get with the next movie. Although it sounds like the movie will be so crazy that fans might forget how much they miss Sidney.
Later in that same interview, Jenna Ortega further spoke (in vague terms) about the way Scream 6 will address Sidney Prescott throughout its runtime. While Neve Campbell’s character won’t be physically present, it sounds like there will be plenty of nods and references to the scream queen. As Ortega put it,
But it's very clear, like, there's references to Sidney, of course. You know, it's nice because there's still a protectiveness in the script and that's something that the actors had naturally over her because obviously we respect her and we want the best for her. She's missed and thought of.
Well, I’m definitely intrigued. Like I said, it’s nearly impossible to imagine a Scream movie without Sidney Prescott, but that’s exactly what we’re getting with the upcoming sixth movie. And although this is no doubt going to be a big adjustment, at least the movie will make reference to Sid and hopefully reveal what happened to her after the fifth movie.
While Neve Campbell had limited screen time in the last Scream, it was revealed that she’s a mother and married Patrick Dempsey’s Mark Kincaid from the third movie. While fans were hoping this might mean that she and McDreamy will share scenes in the sixth movie, that’s obviously not going to happen.
Scream 6 is currently expected to arrive in theaters on March 10th, 2023, a date that was recently moved up. In the meantime, check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. There should be a few more scary movies before the New Year, despite Halloween being in the rear view.
