Scream 7 is almost here, and it’s clear that some fans are thrilled to see Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott back in the hot seat after she was famously absent in the previous installment. But for Campbell, the choice was clear: there was no way she could return to the franchise in 2022’s Scream 6 because her salary offer didn’t reflect the 25 years of dedication she felt she gave to this story.
“When I made that decision, I just didn’t think I could live with myself walking on set,” the actress recently told CBS Mornings in an interview about Scream 7. “I just didn’t feel right. I just knew that my value to this franchise was bigger than what had been offered. For me, I needed to make that choice.”
The sad but true fact was that, at the time of the salary dispute, Campbell was unsure she would ever get to go head-to-head with Ghostface ever again. “When I said goodbye to it, I thought that was it,” she added. “I knew that there was a good chance that would be it.”
She also highlighted that it was painful to not be on set knowing a Scream film was being made without her, but that she knew she had made the right decision for her at that time. “And when I spoke out about it, it wasn’t really to sort of rally everybody,” Campbell explained. “It was really just my truth at the time, and the fact the people got behind me, I got lovely support, and that was nice. And I do feel that other people need to make those choices.”
In June 2022, Campbell made a statement to Variety revealing that she would not return for Scream 6 for financial reasons. “As a woman I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream,” she told the outlet at the time. “I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise. It’s been a very difficult decision to move on.”
That said, there were in-roads made between Scream 6 and Scream 7 that brought Campbell back into the fold. After Melissa Barrera, who played leading lady Sam in Scream 5 and Scream 6, was fired from the seventh installment in late 2023, and Jenna Ortega, who played her sister Tara, departed the film shortly afterward, Campbell was able to use her authority to negotiate a return that made her feel respected.
According to Variety, Campbell secured a nearly $7 million deal for Scream 7, whereas Scream mainstay Courteney Cox was paid $2 million. “Neve Campbell is to Scream what Jamie Lee Curtis is for the Halloween franchise,” director of movie analytics at Fandango, Shawn Robbins, told Variety. “She’s a big draw, especially for older generations who grew up with the original films.” And he’s absolutely right there; there’s always going to be some part of the fandom that wants to see Sidney’s story through.
Fans probably will get to see Sidney’s story through, because if this film does well, there’s definitely going to be a push for an eighth installment. But only time will tell at this point. Scream 7 arrives in theaters on February 28.
Photo by Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
OpenAI COO says ads will be ‘an iterative process’