Talks with Courteney Cox about reprising the role of Gale Weathers in Scream 7 began in March, but she still hasn’t signed on
Spyglass Media and Paramount Pictures once intended to make a Scream 7 that would have starred Scream (2022) and Scream VI leads Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, with Freaky and Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon at the helm. But then Ortega allegedly asked for a substantial pay raise – and as we saw when Neve Campbell dropped out of Scream VI due to a pay dispute, these pay issues don’t tend to work out. Then Barrera was fired from the project after comments she made about the Israel-Hamas war didn’t go over well with executives at Spyglass. Landon dropped out the of the project soon after. So Scream 7 has been re-developed, Campbell has signed on to return as franchise heroine Sidney Prescott, back in the lead role – and while there’s not a lot that we know about the current state of the film, one thing we thought we knew for sure is that franchise regular Courteney Cox would also be back in the role of reporter / author Gale Weathers. But that’s not the case. Although Cox was first said to be “in talks” to join the project back in March, six months later she still has not closed her deal and signed on.
Speaking with Variety, Cox said, “I’m not officially signed on. I’m not, but there will be a Scream 7. … They’re rewriting all the time. It’s not like I don’t know what’s going on.“
Kevin Williamson, who wrote the screenplay for the original Scream, is set to direct this new sequel. In addition to writing the original Scream, Williamson has also written I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2, The Faculty, and Halloween H20 (where his script contributions were uncredited). He wrote the initial drafts of Scream 3 and Scream 4, then those both received some major rewrites. For Scream 7, he’ll be working from a screenplay by 2022’s Scream and Scream VI writer Guy Busick, who crafted the story with his co-writer on the fifth and sixth films, James Vanderbilt. (Vanderbilt is also a producer on the most recent sequels.) Williamson made his directing debut with the 1999 thriller Teaching Mrs. Tingle. Twenty-five years later, Scream 7 will be his second directing credit.
Cox told Variety she’s “excited” that Williamson is going to be at the helm of this sequel, which is expected to start filming in December or January. “You can’t get better than that choice. It’s going to be fun.“
So it sounds like Cox will gladly be involved with Scream 7, if Gale Weathers ends up being included in the script in a satisfactory way. She’s hoping Gale’s ex Dewey, who was played by David Arquette and killed off in the fifth film, will also be able to make some kind of an appearance. “I understand the reasons they did it (killed Dewey), but whoa! Talk about a missed character. Dewey is so loved by Scream fans. They have to figure it out.“
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