She’s been screaming since the beginning, but now it’s time to walk away. Neve Campbell, who stars in the hit horror movie franchise as Sidney Prescott, has been a regular face since the 1996 original. As a “final girl,” she has been hunted by various murderers in the Ghostface mask and made it out alive each time. But with the newest movie in the franchise, Scream 6, being created, horror movie fans are upset that Neve Campbell will not be renewing her role.
To be clear, the fans are not mad at Campbell. After the huge hit of the 2022 Scream movie, the fifth in the series, she seemed to be completely on board to renew her role. Her character had become iconic as a final girl. Sidney Prescott literally wrote a book on surviving when deranged killers pick you as their target. And it seems like Neve Campbell loves Sidney as much as the fans do! But she is a professional who deserves to be paid fairly for the work that she does. So when she announced that she would not be joining Scream 6 because the salary “did not equate to the value [she] brought to the franchise,” fans were on her side.
It’s great to see fans support a female actor standing her ground on the pay gap struggle, but it isn’t just the fans chiming in on this one. Matthew Lillard, who played Stu Macher in the original Scream, has been enthusiastically vocal in support of Campbell. He brought up the excellent point that the most recent Scream movie did really well, so what is their excuse for not paying her what she’s worth? He is quoted in a Twitter conversation with the Midnight Movie Club saying the following:
“Think about it. Did Tom Cruise take less money for Maverick 5? F—k no, dude. No. So why is a woman supposed to take less? Why wouldn’t you pay her more as the series goes on? And was Scream 5 a hit or not a hit? It was a smash hit. Did they make a s—t ton of money? Yes. Should Neve Campbell be paid for the work she’s done in five movies of a franchise? Yes. Because she is a female lead of… one of the most successful horror franchises. Infuriating.”
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While we do have a familiar face or two returning to Scream 6, it won’t be the same without Neve Campbell. Let’s hope they up the offer and bring her back!
