Neve Campbell will return for ‘Scream 7’; salary dispute is apparently history

The original “Scream” queen is back — Neve Campbell announced Tuesday she’d be returning to the franchise for the upcoming seventh film.

“Sidney Prescott is coming back!!!!” Campbell posted on Instagram. “It’s always been such a blast and an honor to get to play Sidney in the Scream movies. My appreciation for these films and for what they have meant to me, has never waned. I’m very happy and proud to say I’ve been asked, in the most respectful way, to bring Sidney back to the screen and I couldn’t be more thrilled!!!”

Campbell previously passed on reprising her role as final girl Sidney Prescott in the franchise’s sixth film, citing a pay dispute.

“Sadly, I won’t be making the next Scream film,” the actor said in the summer of 2022.

“As a woman I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream,” the actor said in a statement obtained by The Times. “I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise.”

Campbell has portrayed Prescott from the beginning of a franchise that has spanned more than 25 years and most recently appeared in the sequel “Scream,” released in January 2022. The reboot debuted to $30.6 million in ticket sales in its opening weekend.

“Scream” creator and writer Kevin Williamson is taking over as director of “Scream 7.” Williamson wrote the first, second and fourth films in the franchise and executive produced the 2022 reboot, as well as “Scream VI.”

“It’s been nearly 30 years since my very first script, Scream, was directed by the legendary Wes Craven,” Williamson wrote in an Instagram post. “I never would have predicted what it would become. Or that I would be directing the seventh installment of the franchise. I am overcome with gratitude and excitement, and I can’t wait to take this journey with Neve and the entire Scream family as we bring back Sidney Prescott in the next chapter of the Scream franchise.”

The news comes amid lingering controversy surrounding the franchise. Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, who starred in the two most recent sequels, will not return for “7.”

Barrera was fired from “Scream 7” over pro-Palestinian statements regarding the Israel-Hamas war that she shared on social media. Ortega exited the film shortly thereafter, citing her filming schedule for Netflix’s “Wednesday.”

In 1996, The Times reviewed the horror film that launched the franchise.

Longtime movie critic Kevin Thomas described it as “sensational” — a “bravura, provocative sendup of horror pictures that’s also scary and gruesome yet too swift-moving to lapse into morbidity.”

He noted that “although the film has alphabetical billing,” its star — who “barely escapes with her life” — is Campbell, who continues to display her survival skills.