After sitting out the last Scream movie, Neve Campbell was convinced to reprise the role of Sidney Prescott for the upcoming Scream 7 - but her decision to return was not without some controversy.
“Sidney Prescott is coming back!” Campbell posted on Instagram when her return was made official. “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.”
Due to Melissa Barrera's (Sam Carpenter) firing over social media posts that the studio deemed to be "anti-Semitic," a lot of fans turned against Campbell and felt that she should have shown solidarity with her former co-star and declined the studio's offer.
Barrera was asked about the situation in a recent interview, and while she declined to comment on Campbell, she did reveal that she would consider returning to finish Sam's story down the line.
“I’ve learned to never say never, but also a lot of things would have to happen for Sam to come back. For now, next page, next chapter, and then we’ll see what the future holds.”
“It’s definitely hard, because I was just in such a cloudy state of mind, but I was very fortunate,” the Abigail star told THR. “I had a lot of support from the people around me: my team and specifically my publicists — they just carried me.”
It seems Barrera and Campbell still haven't discussed the situation.
“We haven’t really spoken,” Barrera said during a new interview with Decider. “I think everyone makes their choices, and what they think is best for them. I fully respect what people think that they need to do, to keep going in this life.”
"Following the latest Ghostface killings, the four survivors leave Woodsboro behind and start a fresh chapter," reads Scream VI's synopsis. "In Scream VI, Melissa Barrera ("Sam Carpenter"), Jasmin Savoy Brown ("Mindy Meeks-Martin"), Mason Gooding ("Chad Meeks-Martin"), Jenna Ortega ("Tara Carpenter"), Hayden Panettiere ("Kirby Reed"), and Courtney Cox ("Gale Weathers") return to their roles in the franchise alongside Jack Champion, Henry Czerny, Liana Liberato, Dermot Mulroney, Devyn Nekoda, Tony Revolori, Josh Segarra and Samara Weaving."