The Ghostface, the masked killer terrifying audiences for over 25 years.
Following the first film's success, Scream 2 was quickly greenlit and premiered in 1997. After surviving the events of the first installment, Sidney Prescott (Campbell) went off to college, where she faced a copycat killer orchestrated by Billy Loomis' mother. Gale Weathers (Cox) and Dewey Riley (Arquette) were once again along for the ride. The trio reprised their roles for 2000's Scream 3 before the franchise took a decade-long hiatus. The group returned for focus shifted back to Woodsboro. Since then, the franchise spawned a TV series that spanned three seasons.
Since the 2011 revival, there had been rumors of creating a modern trilogy. Craven and Williamson revealed that they were contracted to work on multiple sequels, but nothing came to fruition following the fourth film. Craven sadly ed away in 2015, seemingly scrapping any previous plans for a sequel. In 2019, Blumhouse expressed interest in reviving the franchise. Later that year, Spyglass Media Group took over the rights. Rather than title the forthcoming sequel Scream 5, the new movie is going back to the franchise's roots with Scream. Here are all of the Scream 2022 updates leading up to the movie's release.
Scream 2022 Release Date
On August 29, 2020, Spyglass announced January 14, 2022, as the Scream 2022 release date. The Scream title echoes Halloween 2018, and according to those involved, Scream 2022 is looking to accomplish a similar goal. It's not a complete continuity reset but is intended to launch a new series of movies under the same umbrella. Filming and post-production have both long since wrapped, with the first Scream trailer arriving in mid-October.
Scream 2022 Director
Scream 5 will mark the first movie in the franchise not to have Craven at the helm as director. Williamson, however, is serving as an executive producer, which should give fans a sense that the movie is in good hands. Rather than one director, the forthcoming sequel will feature two names in the director chair: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. The pair previously co-directed 2019's standout hit Ready or Not. They are also co-founders of the filmmaking collective known as Radio Silence.
Scream 2022 Cast
Scream 2022's cast, fitting its intention to both revitalize and continue the established franchise, will feature the return of the core trio of survivors from the prior four films sharing the screen with newly created characters. This means David Arquette is back as Dewey Riley, but he no longer seems to be in law enforcement. Meanwhile, Courteney Cox is returning as dogged journalist Gale Weathers. And of course, Neve Campbell is making her return as Sidney Prescott, who gets swept up in another Woodsboro massacre.
Scream 4 character, Marley Shelton's Sheriff Judy Hicks, is already confirmed as coming back. New cast to be added so far include Melissa Barrera (In the Heights), Jack Quaid (The Boys), Mason Gooding (Booksmart), Dylan Minnette (13 Reasons Why), and Jenna Ortega (You), along with Kyle Gallner, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Mikey Madison. While Barrera looks to be serving as the Scream, Ortega seems to be the opening sequence victim. Around a month before the movie is set to release, the Scream 2022 characters received solo posters showing cast holding the Ghostface mask, implying everyone is a suspect.
Scream 2022 Story Details
The official synopsis released for Scream 2022 so far is extremely vague and generic, saying only that the movie focuses on "a young woman who returns to her old hometown, only to encounter horrific murder cases connected to a notorious masked serial killer." However, the Scream trailer shed more light on the mayhem to come. The Scream 2022 story will bring the trio of Dewey, Gale, and Sidney back together in Woodsboro two and a half decades after the original killings. A new killer donning the Ghostface mask begins targeting a group of teenagers as old Woodsboro secrets begin to emerge. To hit on the nostalgia, Scream 2022 characters will be revisiting some familiar locations like Stu Macher's house.
Along with the Scream 2022 poster releases, a new featurette was released to celebrate the CCXP for the slasher flick. It asks the question of "what makes a good horror movie" before several Scream 2022 cast take a shot at the answer. Courteney Cox also adds that "anybody can be Ghostface," which again touches on the mystery surrounding the new killer's identity and how the person ties to the past and present, especially in connection to the franchise's favorite Final Girl Sidney Prescott.
