The Scream films’ original surviving trio of Sidney Prescott, Dewey Riley and Gale Weathers have made the films a more iconic film franchise. The trio, played by Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Courteney Cox, respectively, has been a part of the Scream films since the first film in 1996. While Arquette’s absence is pretty much set since his character is already dead, Campbell’s nonappearance initially raised some concerns among the fans.
Neve Campbell revealed last year that she turned down the offer to reprise her character in Scream VI. When she declined to be a part of the latest Scream film, the filmmakers knew they had to do something. The lack of her presence would definitely be felt especially by the long-time fans, so the filmmakers decided to still give an update on her character through Sidney Prescott’s husband Mark.
Scream VI co-director Matt Bettinelli-Olpin admitted that since they were informed early on that Campbell wasn’t going to return for Scream VI, they only had to make some minor changes. He told Collider, “We found out early on in pre-production that Neve wasn't gonna do this one and there had been drafts and ideas and stuff going around”
He continued, “But the thing that Guy and Jamie did that was so great and really helped us is that they had created the structure of the movie that I don't think ever really changed much. Stuff like the motives, that shifted, but the movie from kind of a bird's eye view didn't change that much.”
Making The Core Four As Lovable As The Original Trio
With the pressure of making things work without the staple of the film franchise, Bettinelli-Olpin revealed that they made sure that the Core Four would grow on the audience. He explained, “Obviously we were super bummed when Neve wasn't going to do it, and the thing that we immediately went to was like, ‘Okay, if we're not doing this with Neve again, we have to make sure that you fall in love with these characters the way that we all fell in love with Sidney and Gale and Dewey.”
He further added, “So we took that responsibility really, really seriously and made sure that if we do our job right, you leave this movie going, ‘Oh, I love the Core Four and I want their journey to continue the same way that we all want Sidney and Gale and Dewey to continue.’”