Courteney Cox Dishes Why Shocking Murder Scene in Iconic Slasher 'Scream' Was ‘Scrapped’

The fifth instalment of the legendary “Scream” horror movie series is hitting theatres in 2022, with long-time cast members Courteney Cox and Neve Campbell facing off yet again against the killer, Ghostface.

Courtney Cox has revealed that a proposed murder scene in the 1996 original horror franchise “Scream” was ditched once producers realised how popular the character would be.

“I was actually with one of the producers not long ago and there was a time, I think it was in the first Scream, where David’s character Dewey was gonna be killed off, then they saw how he came across and people loved him so they scrapped it,” said the “Friends” star on Pedestrian TV, in an apparent reference to David Arquette‘s character Dewey.

Arquette went on to star in the film's four subsequent sequels. After meeting on the set of the iconic slasher flick, Courteney Cox and David Arquette tied the knot, but eventually split after 14 years of marriage.

The 57-year old actress, together with co-star, Canadian actress Neve Campbell, was speaking to Pedestrian TV about their reprised lead roles in the newest edition of the Scream series.

#Scream Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette Then and Now 🖤

Scream Scream
(1996) (2022) pic.twitter.com/h2nxlDmuDo

— 🔪🔪 Horror Queen Neve 🔪🔪 (@HorrorQueenNeve) January 10, 2022

Paramount Pictures has released the sequel, over a decade since its fourth instalment, now directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett since the death of series creator Wes Craven.

Courteney added in the interview that she had been concerned at the time of the original movie that her reputation for portraying sweet characters like Monica on Friends would leave director Wes Craven unsure of whether she could pull off the Gale Weathers role.

“I wrote him a letter, or maybe I just sent him a signed picture, and said ‘Trust me, I can be a bitch!'” Courteney revealed.

When Cox and Campbell were asked about their favourite moments from the entire franchise, both actresses agreed on the scene in which Sidney Prescott (Neve) slaps Gale Weathers (Courteney), as well as the follow-up scene where Sidney and Tatum (Rose McGowan) were reminiscing on the smack.

🔪New #Scream Poster! pic.twitter.com/TZ51zYFFM5

— HelloSidney.com (@hello_sidney) January 10, 2022

Asked about the future of the Scream franchise, Courteney Cox responded:

“I would imagine that the audience will want more films.”

Neve Campbell added:

“I think the intention is for more films to be made… They’ve brought in this fantastically talented and enthusiastic young cast who could carry it on and I think audiences will be invested in them.”

The fifth instalment of Scream, a direct sequel to Scream (2011), is the first in the series not to be directed by Wes Craven, who died of a brain tumour in 2015. In the 2022 film, theatrically released in the US on 14 January, a new killer dons the Ghostface serial killer’s mask to begin targeting a group of teenagers, resurrecting secrets from the deadly past of the town of Woodsboro.