Neve Campbell addresses possible Scream return: 'I would not be surprised to get a call'

Neve Campbell may have walked away from Scream 6, but she is leaving the phone line open for a possible return.

Plans for a seventh film in the franchise are currently in flux following the departure of director Christopher Landon and leading ladies Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega. Campbell, who starred in several of its movies as slasher heroine Sidney Prescott, told The Hollywood Reporter that she’s well aware of all the controversy swirling around the Scream empire now.

“I know things are spinning at the moment, and I would imagine they are spinning at the top trying to figure out what they’re going to do,” she said at the BAFTA Tea Party in Beverly Hills this weekend. Commenting on her own place in the franchise, she added, “I would not be surprised to get a call.”

That said, Campbell did not hesitate to reference her highly publicized exit from Scream VI, which marked the first time in the franchise's history that she skipped a movie. Campbell maintains that the root of the issue was a salary dispute.

“I made a strong statement a few years ago,” she said. “Which is I did not believe that the way that I was treated would’ve happened if I had been a male and that I deserve a certain thing for having carried this franchise for as long as I have.”

Campbell also spoke to IndieWire about her hopes for the franchise's future on the red carpet for the BAFTA Tea Party. ​​“It’s sad to me that they’re struggling at the moment,” she told the outlet. “I think I would imagine people want to do the right thing. I would hope. I love this franchise. I love it for Wes [Craven]. I love it for all the people who’ve been involved and even the newer cast. I would hope it doesn’t fall apart.”

The actress reiterated that she is certainly open to rejoining the franchise — if her expectations are met. Asked if she would reprise her role, she said, “Given the right circumstances? Yes." But she went on to say her stance on the salary dispute remains unchanged.

"As a woman, I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream,” Campbell said in a statement after her departure. “I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise."

The future of the Scream franchise is still unknown.

Barrera, who took over as the lead in the franchise's fifth and sixth installments, was fired from the movie in November after posting a series of messages on social media voicing support for the Palestinian cause, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel and criticizing Israel's actions amid the Israel-Hamas war.

A day later, news broke that Ortega, who played Barrera’s onscreen younger sister, had also left the project due to a scheduling conflict, she said. Then in late December, the sequel's director, Happy Death Day filmmaker Christopher Landon, announced that he had also cut ties with the project. 

“It was a dream job that turned into a nightmare,” Landon wrote in a statement on social media. “I have nothing more to add to the conversation other than I hope Wes’ legacy thrives and lifts above the din of a divided world.”

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Related content:

• Scream VII star Melissa Barrera dropped from film after posts about Israel-Hamas war
• Scream VII moving forward with Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon
• How the Scream VI filmmakers dealt with the absence of Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott