Neve Campbell will return to Scream franchise thanks to a personal letter

While she was hesitant to return to the franchise, Neve Campbell reveals it was a personal letter that made her change her mind about Scream 5.

While she was hesitant to return to the popular franchise, Neve Campbell reveals it was a personal letter that made her change her mind about the upcoming movie Scream 5.

Campbell, 47, confirmed last month that she was returning, making it the first from the franchise that won’t have creator and director Wes Craven.

Neva Campbell in the movie Scream.

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It was the death of Wes that initially made Campbell hesitant to return, which she revealed to Variety for their special House of Horror where she appeared virtually with Jamie Lee Curtis.

“I had been really apprehensive about doing another one,” Campbell said. “People had asked in the past whether I would do another one without Wes or whether I would make another one. I always felt like it’d be too difficult to do it without Wes. He was the master of these films. He did such a beautiful job on them. We were a family.”

It was new directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s commitment to honouring Wes’ legacy that convinced Campbell.

Wes dies in 2015 of a brain tumour. He was 76.

“They actually wrote me a letter and they said they basically are directors because of these films,” Campbell said. “They are directors because of Wes Craven and they’re really so excited to be a part of these films and what an honour it is to do them, and that they really want to do justice to Wes and honour his legacy.

“That meant a lot. That letter meant a lot to me,” she continued. “Then I went and watched one their films and it’s brilliant and in keeping in tone. So I thought, ‘You know what, I can do this.’ I think this could be a lot of fun and a good idea. These are people who are doing it for the love of these films. So that meant something.”

Campbell will be returning alongside original cast members Courteney Cox and David Arquette.

Neve was hesitant to return at first

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She revealed recently that she was pretty excited to see her old friends.

“I am leaving soon (and) I am looking forward to getting back to work,” Campbell told Entertainment Tonight. “It will be the first time since March and I am sure we are all dealing with getting back to work, so I am excited about that.

“I am excited (about) stepping back in Sidney’s shoes and seeing Courteney and David,” she continued. “Those movies mean so much to me for my life and career and they are always a blast to do, so it should be fun!”

In the mid to late ’90s, Neve Campbell was one of Hollywood’s hottest properties: A TV starlet who had successfully made the jump to big-screen blockbusters.

For a while, she was everywhere: as Julia Salinger on Party Of Five, the TV drama that made her a star; as a teen queen leading lady in hits like The Craft, Wild Things and the inescapable Scream franchise.

And then, seemingly just as quickly, she was gone. Granted, Campbell didn’t disappear from Hollywood – her IMDB page shows she had 11 film credits between 2000’s Scream 3 and 2011’s Scream 4, likely the first time many viewers will have seen her on screen for a decade – but the big-name roles had dried up. Bit parts in TV shows like Medium and Grey’s Anatomy kept her somewhat visible, and a 26-episode stint as LeeAnn Harvey on House Of Cards brought her back as a series regular for the first time since Party Of Five ended 16 years earlier.

During that time, the Canadian-born star, who divorced her first husband of three years in 1998, before marrying English actor John Light, living for five years in London and acting on the West End. Campbell filed for divorce in 2010, and now has two children with partner, actor JJ Feild.

The Late Show host Stephen Colbert put the question to Campbell when she appeared on his show in 2018.

“I just needed a minute,” Campbell told the host. “It was a long minute. It was a good minute.”

Originally published as Neve Campbell will return to Scream franchise thanks to a personal letter