Kevin Williamson on Directing SCREAM 7 and Reuniting With Neve Campbell: “It Needs to Be About Sidney”
After nearly three decades of shaping the Scream franchise from behind the keyboard, Kevin Williamson is finally stepping behind the camera for Scream 7. According to him, it all comes down to one thing… Sidney Prescott.
Speaking at the ATX TV Festival during a career retrospective panel, Williamson explained what finally drew him to direct the seventh installment of the beloved slasher series.
“The company pitched it to me because they said, ‘This is going to be about Sidney Prescott. It needs to be about Sidney.’ That’s why I would want to do it.
“I do think there’s a world we haven’t tapped into — we’ve never gone home with her, who she is today, and we don’t know what her life is about. I want to know those things.”
It’s a full-circle moment not just for Williamson, but for the franchise’s beating heart, Neve Campbell. After skipping Scream 6 over a salary dispute, her return in Scream 7 is a course correction. Williamson was vocal about his support for Campbell during the previous controversy, and he doubled down during the panel.
“There was this big thing about the pay discrepancy, but it was also about the part. It was like, ‘You want me to show up at the end of a movie with a gun and help everyone shoot Ghostface? That’s great. I’ll do it.’ She was happy, but she’d also wanted a part. Actresses want to play parts,” he said.
And that’s exactly what she’s getting. Williamson emphasized that Scream 7 is being built with Campbell, not just around her.
“So we were able to tap into that and find a way in. Working with Neve, we did it together. She was with me every step of the way, and she was so supportive and so helpful. She walked me through a lot of it. I hope it shows, but we had a blast.”
While the script is officially credited to Scream veterans Guy Busick and James Vanderbilt, with Busick penning the screenplay from their story, it’s clear that Williamson and Campbell’s collaboration is at the center of what’s coming.
Busick previously said:
“We always wanted to do a Sidney movie and so it was like, ‘All right, let’s get into it and why now and why this one?’I don’t want to give anything away about the reason [Scream 7] had to be a Sidney movie because there’s a really cool reason…
“Scream is always in a conversation with the audience about the state of movies, the state of horror movies and in particular, franchises.”
With a February 2026 release date set, Scream 7 is shaping up to be more than just another Ghostface installment, it’s a return to the soul of the series. For fans who’ve grown up with Sidney Prescott, this may be the story they’ve been waiting for.
Source: Variety