The Unmade ‘Scream’s We Never Got to See

Originally, Scream was intended as a humorous and self-aware critique of typical slasher films. Ironically, it has now become one of the most enduring slasher franchises of all time, with seven movies and a TV series released over the past 30 years. In fact, when the first Scream premiered in 1996, Halloween was less than 20 years old! It makes you wonder – did anyone predict Scream would become the very thing it once satirized, and live long enough to see itself become Ghostface?

The Scream movies playfully poke fun at nearly everything about horror films and their fans – but it’s ironic that several Scream sequels themselves got stuck in development issues. Since Scream 2, almost every film in the series has been very different from its original idea, with scripts undergoing many changes, writers being swapped, scenes being re-shot, and even actors being let go.

Here are four memorable characters from the Scream movies who were killed before they could get help or run for safety – just like many of Ghostface’s victims over the years. (Rest in peace.)

Kevin Williamson’s Scream 3

When Kevin Williamson first created what would become Scream, he sold the idea – originally called Scary Movie – to Miramax with plans for several sequels already outlined. He helped write the second Scream movie, but by the time the third film was in development, he was working on other projects. The producers hired Ehren Kruger to expand on Williamson’s initial outline, but the final Scream 3 ended up being quite different from Williamson’s original vision.

In a 2013 interview with Entertainment Tonight, Kevin Williamson revealed his initial idea for Scream 3 involved a surprising twist. The killers weren’t individuals, but a group of local teenagers who had formed a fan club based on the movies within the Scream universe, Stab 1 and Stab 2. The plan was for Sidney to arrive at a house after Ghostface seemingly killed everyone, only to discover they had all faked their deaths and orchestrated the entire series of events.

Williamson later used concepts from Scream 3 in his TV show The Following, and the reasons behind the killers’ actions, with significant adjustments, also appeared in Scream 4. However, the idea of a ‘fan club’ wasn’t directly incorporated into the Scream movies in the same way it was originally conceived.

The Original Versions of Scream 5 & 6

The making of Scream 4 was possibly even more complicated than Scream 3. While Kevin Williamson initially wrote the script, it underwent significant changes from other writers both before and during filming. The final ending of the movie differed greatly from Williamson’s original vision. He had intended for Jill Roberts (Emma Roberts) to survive and become a key character in two follow-up films, effectively creating a smaller story arc within the larger Scream series.

Wes Craven, the director, ultimately filmed a different ending for Scream, where the original survivors finally kill Jill after she almost succeeds in her plan. The initial script actually had Jill getting away with everything, and the final hospital scene was added later. Kevin Williamson revealed in 2022 that if Jill had lived as he originally planned, Scream 5 would have focused on her life as a college student.

He explained that the new story began with murders happening on a college campus. The killer was someone who recognized the protagonist, Sidney, from a previous film and tried to reveal her identity. This forced Sidney to kill again to keep her past hidden, creating a showdown between two killers. Sidney was also working as a professor at the school. It’s a really interesting concept for a follow-up movie!

Williamson explained that Scream 6 was originally intended to reveal what happened between Dewey and Gale, and would have featured a smaller role for Sidney while giving Dewey and Gale more prominence. However, Scream 4 underwent significant rewrites, leading to Jill’s death, and it took eleven years for another Scream sequel to be made.

Scream VI Before Neve Campbell’s Departure

When Scream VI was released in 2023, it marked the first time a film in the Scream series didn’t feature Neve Campbell. The movie addresses her absence by having characters explain that her character, Sidney, has gone into hiding with her family to stay safe after the latest Ghostface attacks.

Honestly, I completely understood why Naomi Campbell decided to step away from the film. She felt undervalued, and she put it perfectly – we all deserve to be treated with respect and fairly compensated for our work. She made it clear that she doesn’t believe she’d be offered the same amount if she were a male actor with a similar track record – over 25 years and five films in a major franchise. She just couldn’t bring herself to accept that, and I applaud her for standing up for herself and for all of us.

By the time Neve Campbell decided not to reprise her role, Scream VI was already well into production and the script still featured her character. The website HelloSidney.com has a detailed breakdown of this earlier script and how it varied from the final version. While many of the changes were minor – like giving some of Sidney’s dialogue to other characters – the original script presented a Sidney more consistent with her character in previous Scream films – someone who wouldn’t typically avoid a confrontation.

The script featured Sidney traveling to Manhattan after learning Ghostface was back. There, she would have assisted the new, younger characters in uncovering the killer’s identity and stopping them. She was also set to reunite with Gale Weathers and, in a callback to the original film, defeat the new Ghostface using the same TV she famously used years ago, with the line, “Second time I’ve done that, if you can believe it.”

The Original Scream 7 plan

Following the success of Scream VI, work began immediately on a sequel. However, the Scream 7 currently scheduled for release in 2026 is significantly different from the original plans made three years ago. Since the Scream franchise returned in 2022, the main storyline has centered on sisters Sam and Tara Carpenter, portrayed by Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega. Sam also has a connection to the original film, as she is the daughter of Billy Loomis, one of the killers from the first Scream movie.

Melissa Barrera was let go from Scream 7 after sharing her views on the conflict in Gaza. Shortly after, Jenna Ortega also left the film, citing conflicts with her schedule for the show Wednesday. With both leading actors gone, the director, Christopher Landon, decided to leave the project as well.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Landon explained that the entire script for Scream 7 revolved around the character of Sam and wouldn’t have worked without her. He clarified, “I didn’t agree to make just any Scream movie, but that specific movie. Once that vision changed, I decided to leave the project.”

Rather than following the previous storyline, Scream 7 centers on Sidney Prescott and her daughter, played by Isabel May. Considering past plans for the series that never came to fruition, it’s likely we’ll eventually find out details about the originally planned film focused on the character Sam.

Every Scream Movie Ranked

6. Scream 3

Scream 3 had a lot of potential for satire, being a movie about trilogies themselves. However, the film discovered that the ‘rules’ of trilogies aren’t really that different from those of any sequel, making much of its commentary feel flat. After releasing three films in just five years, the series was starting to lose its creative spark. The film even resorts to Ghostface mimicking anyone’s voice—even those of deceased characters—which feels like a desperate stretch of the established ‘rules.’ It’s no surprise it took over a decade for a fourth Scream movie to finally appear.

5. Scream VI

While the movie has some genuinely effective scare sequences, including a clever opening, it’s ultimately just a bit disappointing, rather than a complete failure. Scream VI feels less like a self-aware commentary on horror movies and more like it’s stuck repeating familiar patterns from its own series. And the ending is particularly weak – arguably the worst in the entire franchise, costing it significant points.

4. Scream 4

The Scream movies are most effective when they clearly satirize a specific horror trope; the first Scream poked fun at slasher films, Scream 2 tackled sequels, and so on. Scream 4 struggles because it isn’t entirely clear what it’s meant to be making fun of. It hints at the idea of a ‘legacyquel’ – a sequel that comments on the franchise’s history – but that concept wasn’t really established yet in 2011, so there weren’t any established rules to parody. It also tries to lampoon early YouTube culture, but that platform was still relatively new at the time. The reveal of the killer works well, although the over-the-top, bloody climax in the hospital is even more outlandish than usual for this series.

3. Scream (2022)

As a long-time fan of the Scream franchise, I was really intrigued by the new installment after an eleven-year gap. It feels like Hollywood has been stuck in a cycle of revisiting old properties, and this movie definitely leans into that trend – and not always successfully. What Scream (2022) does well is introduce a new group of teens tied to the original characters. Honestly, though, the new cast doesn’t quite have the same energy as the originals – though Jack Quaid as Sam’s boyfriend is a definite highlight and provides some much-needed humor. Previous sequels really struggled to build a cohesive mythology across all the films, but the motivation behind this Ghostface actually makes sense, which I appreciated.

2. Scream 2

The cast of Scream 2 is widely considered the strongest in the series, featuring all the original stars alongside additions like Sarah Michelle Gellar, Timothy Olyphant, Laurie Metcalf, Jada Pinkett Smith, Omar Epps, Portia de Rossi, and Jerry O’Connell. After brilliantly satirizing slasher films in the first movie, Scream 2 cleverly targeted the tropes of sequels themselves, offering fresh material for parody. Many fans believe this was the last Scream film to truly feel innovative, which may be linked to the fact that series creator Kevin Williamson only wrote one of the four films that followed.

1. Scream (1996)

Scream wasn’t simply good—it was a landmark horror film, arguably the most important since the original Halloween in 1978. It broke the mold by featuring characters who were horror movie fans themselves, allowing them to use their knowledge to survive—or even become more effective killers. While it inspired a wave of similar, often low-quality, self-aware slasher films, and the formula eventually became predictable, that wasn’t a flaw of Scream itself. It remains a pivotal and influential moment in horror cinema history.

2026-02-20 21:28