Kevin Williamson is holding out hope for Neve Campbell‘s returns to Scream.
The Scream screenwriter, 58, revealed on an episode of the Happy Horror Time podcast that while he understands why the actress, 49, didn’t star in the latest entry of the film series, he does hope she eventually makes a comeback.
“I totally respect her opinion,” Williamson said of Campbell’s decision to not move forward with the films due to a pay dispute with the studio. “I know exactly where she’s coming from. I know her well.”
“I love and adore her, and that’s what she did,” he added. “It’s right for her.”
However, he noted that if negotiations work out, he would love to see her back on the screen as her iconic Scream role as Sidney Prescott again.
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“I love everyone involved in Scream and all I can say is pay her the money. That’s what I would do, I would give her the [money],” he said. “I’m sure there’s a number they can agree on that will make them both happy. So hopefully one day they will figure that all out.”
Campbell revealed in June 2022 that she would not be returning for the sixth Scream and explained her “very difficult decision” in a statement at the time.
“As a woman I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream,” she said. “I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise.”
Following the decision, she told PEOPLE in an August 2022 that several of her Scream costars reached out to voice their support of her decision.
She also doubled down on her decision to leave the longtime franchise saying it was “truly” just “negotiation” related.
“I did not feel that what I was being offered equated to the value that I bring to this franchise, and have brought to this franchise for 25 years,” she told PEOPLE at the time.
“And as a woman in this business, I think it’s really important for us to be valued and to fight to be valued,” she continued. “I honestly don’t believe that if I were a man and had done five installments of a huge blockbuster franchise over 25 years that the number that I was offered would be the number that would be offered to a man. And in my soul, I just couldn’t do that.”
However, she offered some fans a glimpse of hope saying that her future in the franchise isn’t completely set in stone.
“I don’t know that I’m done for good,” she said. “It would really depend on what they came to me with next. It would have to be different. It would have to be a different attitude, and I’m not sure that’s going to happen.”
A seventh Scream movie is officially in the works with director Christopher Landon, whose previous films include Freaky (2020) and Happy Death Day (2017).