Now that the legacy sequel is in theaters, the next movie, confusing as the recycled Scream title is, it stands for a lot more. Posited as a soft-relaunch of the franchise, Scream introduces a brand new cast of characters to be targeted by Ghostface. The movie also brings back legacy characters Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), and Dewey Riley (David Arquette), but they largely take a backseat to the new group of teens who are all connected to the original murders in one way or another.
The Scream franchise has done somewhat of a soft-relaunch before with the original sequel to the 1996 film. Scream 2 was released in 1997, around a year after the original movie. While the core trio returned, along with Jamie Kennedy's movies' horror rules), the rest of the movie looked vastly different. The sequel left Woodsboro behind for Windsor College and along with a new location came a new group for Ghostface to pick off. Scream 2 is widely considered to be the best sequel in the Scream franchise and one of the most solid horror movie sequels of all time and it's clear that Scream 6 needs to repeat the second movie's biggest change to continue evolving.
With Scream reigniting the franchise for a new era, it seems likely the film could get a sequel. If it does, Scream 6 needs to leave Woodsboro behind and follow the core group of characters to another location like Scream 2. Three out of five of the Scream movies have taken place in Woodsboro. Only Scream 2 and Scream 3 have taken place outside of the fictional California town, with the latter moving to Hollywood. is the most divisive entry in the franchise, but it partially makes up for this by putting the central characters in a new location. Scream 6 should do the same as its own sequel and it has already laid the groundwork to do so.
Melissa Barrera's new Scream character Sam Carpenter has already left Woodsboro prior to the events of the 2022 movie and although she returns to be by her sister Tara's side, Sam is adamant that the pair leave Woodsboro to make themselves safe from Ghostface. Sidney makes it clear that Ghostface will follow them anywhere they go and she's right. Additionally, putting the new cast of Scream characters in a different location will allow them to grow in interesting ways that they otherwise wouldn't be able to in Woodsboro.
With Scream being so self-referential (as it has always been), the movie makes a point to highlight tired tropes of horror movies and, after two Scream entries set in the suburban landscape of Woodsboro, moving them out and into a unique location could breathe new life into the franchise. The fifth Scream movie has already begun to do so - in addition to Sam and Tara, characters like Mason and Mindy Meeks-Martin also survive the events of the film and Ghostface's murderous rampage during Scream's ending. Mindy in particular is a standout character in the new film and watching her, Tara, and Sam face off against Ghostface again is a tantalizing prospect, as long as it's not in Woodsboro.
