A development more horrifying than any of Ghostface’s murderous antics has officially befallen the quaint fictional town of Woodsboro: Neve Campbell will not be reprising her iconic role of Sidney Prescott in Scream 6.
News of Campbell’s departure from the wildly popular slasher franchise broke on Monday, with the actress citing a salary dispute as her reason for stepping away.
“Sadly I won’t be making the next Scream film,” she said in a statement. “As a woman I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream. 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. To all my Scream fans, I love you. You’ve always been so incredibly supportive to me. I’m forever grateful to you and to what this franchise has given me over the past 25 years.”
Naturally, everyone on the internet subsequently lost their minds upon hearing the truly chilling news. Many are outraged that Campbell is not getting the paycheck she so clearly deserves after carrying the franchise on her damn back for 25 years. The disrespect of it all! Nobody else can breathlessly answer a phone or tip-toe around a corner brandishing a kitchen knife quite like Miss Sidney Prescott.
“SCREAM belongs to Neve Campbell,” tweeted one critic. “They should be paying her pretty much whatever she wants at this point.” Another person echoed this sentiment, writing in all caps, “PAY NEVE CAMPBELL EVERY DIME SHE WANTS.”
Others worry about the fate of the franchise without Campbell’s character anchoring it.
“For me, the Scream films have always been about Sidney Prescott’s journey and I can’t imagine the sixth film not featuring her in any capacity,” wrote one Twitter user, “but it’s good to see Neve Campbell stepping back when an offer doesn’t live up to her or her character’s worth.”
Social feeds also promptly filled up with loving tributes to pop culture’s reigning scream queen since 1996.
“Thank you Neve Campbell for being the final girl of my generation and representing what it means to be a survivor,” gushed a fan alongside a collage of photos of Campbell from each Scream film. “Although it’s very unfortunate SCREAM 6 will be the first SCREAM movie without Sidney Prescott, I’m grateful the story is continuing for a new generation.”
Scream 6 is scheduled to be released next March following the box office success of the most recent installment in the series earlier this year. New additions to the cast Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera are once again returning, and the directors behind the last movie, filmmaking duo Radio Silence (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett), are helming the upcoming project. It was also announced just a few weeks ago that Hayden Panettiere will reprise her fan-favorite character from Scream 4, Kirby Reed.
But can there even be Scream without Campbell? We’d hoped we would never find out. Fingers crossed that the collective fury of the internet will be enough to knock some sense into the people at Paramount.
