There are few names more synonymous with mid to late-90s horror than Kevin Williamson. He forever changed the face of horror movies and slasher genre history when he wrote 1996’s Scream. After the box-office juggernaut that was the first film in the Wes Craven-directed franchise, the writer was in high demand. In quick succession, he penned I Know What You Did Last Summer, rewrote the screenplay for the cult classic (and one of director Robert Rodriguez’s best films) The Faculty, and launched the TV show Dawson’s Creek. On the set of Creek, the writer began penning the fast-tracked sequel, Scream 2. In a new interview celebrating the slasher sequel’s 25th anniversary, the writer reveals why he never considered a romance between fan favorites Sidney Prescott and Randy Meeks while writing the successful sequel.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Kevin Williamson recounts the making of Scream 2 and why he never even considered paring Neve Campell and Jamie Kennedy’s characters up romantically after the first movie. The writer reveals that both the actors asked about their character’s potential romance, but he believed it would work better for the characters and the sequel if the two remained friends.
In the first movie, Jamie Kennedy’s Randy is a horror-obsessed movie geek and fellow Woodsboro High School student on the periphery of Sidney’s friend group. He remains a suspect until the closing moment of the first film when Sidney’s boyfriend, and one-half of the Ghostface killing duo, Billy Loomis, attack him. Randy, along with Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, are the only four main characters to live past the first film’s closing credit. Williamson said that Randy and Sidney were closer to family than love interests after the first film’s gruesome events. He told EW:
No, I thought it should just always be his crush. He was always sort of the guy who had the crush, and they were meant to be friends always. I think Neve and Jamie both asked that question to Wes, and Wes pointed to me, and I was like, 'Nah.' Yes, he would love it, he also knows that’s not going to happen, and she knows it’s not going to happen, but they have that sort of flirty thing. He flirts with her, and she just puts up with it. They’re bonded after the first movie. I think they’re family at that point.
Scream 2 sees Randy attending the same college as Sidney, and the two become closer friends. After bonding over the traumatic events of the first film, Randy’s flirting with Sidney is toned down in the second movie, and the two read closer to brother and sister than love interests. One major criticism of the second movie was the death of Kennedy’s Randy Meeks. Williamson has responded to critics about why he shockingly killed Randy off so early in the follow-up. The writer said the death of the fan-favorite character gave the series stakes moving forward. If you die in a Scream film, it’s for good.
Now, all these years later, the Scream saga continues, and while we don’t know much about Scream 6, what we do know is that it has a stacked cast and will continue the horror franchises’ legacy that Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven started. Long-time fans of the Scream franchise might be interested in our list of 10 behind-the-scenes facts about the hit horror franchise. For all upcoming horror movies coming to the 2023 schedule, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.
