David Arquette is officially on board for Scream 5, as Spyglass Media Group has confirmed in a statement that the actor will be reprising the role of Dewey Riley for the upcoming sequel. On Monday, Spyglass announced that filming will take place in North Carolina later this year as soon as it’s safe to begin shooting, also revealing that Arquette is now signed on. This makes him the first original cast member from the franchise to join the cast, though negotiations are currently happening to bring in other legacy cast members.
Arquette himself has also spoken about his return to the Scream franchise with a statement of his own. “I am thrilled to be playing Dewey again and to reunite with my Scream family, old and new. Scream has been such a big part of my life, and for both the fans and myself, I look forward to honoring Wes Craven’s legacy,” Arquette says of his upcoming role reprisal, per Variety. Of course, horror fans will know Craven previously directed all four installments of the Scream franchise, making the upcoming fifth film the first to go without his involvement.
Ready or Not directors Matthew Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are directing Scream 5 using a screenplay from The Amazing Spider-Man writer James Vanderbilt and Ready or Not writer Guy Busick. The creative team is remaining silent on plot details concerning the new movie, but Arquette’s casting suggests the film will share the same universe as the previous movies, rather than rebooting the story completely like the television adaptations have done.
Neve Campbell has recently confirmed she’s had discussions with Spyglass about coming in to the sequel to play perennial final girl Sidney Prescott as well, so it’s looking good that we’ll be getting more original cast members. Aside from Dewey and Sidney, we’re of course going to need to see Courteney Cox back as Gale Weathers-Riley as well, otherwise it just wouldn’t feel complete.
We’ll have to stay tuned for more info on Scream 5. For now, you can watch a clip of Arquette in Scream 2 below.
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