Not even avoiding the ringing landline will save you this time from Ghostface, at least if the first trailer for the upcoming Scream sequel is to be believed. The film, currently scheduled for a Jan. 14, 2022 release, is directed by Ready or Not’s Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and continues the story of ultimate “final girl” Sidney Prescott as her hometown of Woodsboro, California endures yet another knife-wielding reign of terror.
The core of the Scream series are all back for one last go-round in this installment, including Neve Campbell as Sidney, Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers, and David Arquette as Dewey Riley. One has to wonder if any of them are due for the chopping block in this installment—something that was heavily expected in Scream 4 a decade ago, but not something the late, great Wes Craven ended up pulling the trigger on. Regardless, the vintage cast members will be joined by a new cast of fresh faces, including Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Dylan Minnette, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sonia Ben Ammar, Kyle Gallner and In the Heights’ Melissa Barrera as Sam Carpenter, who appears to have “final girl” DNA in the making. According to the trailer, they all share some kind of connection to the original duo of Scream killers from 1996, which seems to be the motivation of whoever is behind the Ghostface mask this time around.
As for the first footage below, it gives a hint at what looks like a throwback opening stalk-and-kill sequence, ‘ala the 1996 original, while also being loaded with cliches, such as Dewey noting that “something about this one just feels different.” It has been speculated that where Scream 4 was satirizing reboots and remakes, this non-numbered Scream is instead a parody of the current vogue of long-delayed sequels that ignore all series continuity since the original, such as the 2018 Halloween. We likely won’t know if that is accurate until the film arrives in January, so check out the footage below as hype for the new Scream begins to build.