What’s Next for Scream Franchise After Losing Leading Final Girls

What’s Next for Scream Franchise After Losing Leading Final Girls

The Scream franchise is regarded as one of the favorites among not only the slasher genre but the horror genre in itself. After four films following Sidney Prescott and the relentless attempts at her life at the hands of Ghost Face, Scream 5 saw the franchise return to glory by passing the torch from the legacy characters to the new faces including Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, and shot the franchise into the modern era.

At the hands of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, better known as Radio Silence, the Scream franchise soared back to one of the best horror franchises. Their contribution gave us 2 solid additions to the beloved horror franchise that put Ghost Face and Friends back on the map and also brought two box-office hits.

The duo further cemented their names into the franchise with Scream 6 which took Ghost Face to the bustling streets of New York City and saw Barrera and Ortega face off against their enemies behind the mask once more. Although Scream 6 could have been a farewell to our final girls worthy of a closed chapter, the pair had signed on for a seventh film.

At this point, the franchise had already lost Neve Campbell whose contract negotiations fell through and saw Sidney Prescott absent from Scream 6. Even with the massive success of the sixth entry, Radio Silence had gotten their hands on Universal Pictures’ continued attempt to resurrect the Universal Monster line with an untitled project. This commitment led to their departure from the Scream franchise which landed in the capable hands of Christopher Landon, known for his work on Paranormal Activity, Happy Death Day, and Freaky.

The film was treading towards a new vision with potential for success. The recent events have, of course, caused some worry for the upcoming sequel and franchise. Recent social media posts led to Barrera being released from the Scream franchise and shortly after, Ortega asked to be released from her contract citing scheduling conflicts with season 2 of Wednesday as the issue.

The upcoming entry in the longstanding franchise now finds itself in need of a creative overhaul. So what is the next step? According to Variety, the drawing board sees the possibility of Campbell returning as filmmakers are weighing options following the exit of Scream 6 leads: Ortega and Barrera.

This includes bringing back Campbell as the original final girl of the franchise, Sidney Prescott, with producers reportedly very interested to see her back in the role. The alternative would require the filmmakers to let the sisters portrayed by Barrera and Ortega ride off into the sunset and find new blood to replace them. Undoubtedly with the inclusion of the remaining legacy characters played by Courtney Cox and Hayden Panetierre.

The safer and reasonable bet is for the producers to take a step back and realize that Campbell now holds all the chips and although it may cost them more now, Campbell is the life raft that could keep the franchise afloat while Landon finds his own building blocks to re-establish where the franchise will go from here.

Seeing Ghost Face take the bloodshed to Prescott’s doorstep and attempt to dismantle the life she has built with Patrick Dempsey’s Mark Kincaid would be an interesting shift in the franchise. Dempsey is celebrating a hit in the horror genre with Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving which could entice him to reprise one of his big roles in the genre.

Regardless of the decision that is made. One of the most iconic slasher franchises finds itself at a pivotal point for the future of Scream. It will either end at an impasse or see the infamous Ghost Face stick around for many more years as it cements itself deeper into the greatest genre out there while continuing the iconic Wes Craven legacy.