'Scream' director gets candid about Jenna Ortega, Melissa Barrera's shock exit

Scream director recently talked about Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera's exit from the franchise.

In a new chat with Screen Rant, Kevin Williamson weighed in on how he reacted to Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera leaving the franchise.

He recalled asking himself, “It was sort of, ‘Well, what’s going to happen?’

“After we lost Melissa and Jenna, and it just looked like we weren’t going to see the Carpenter sisters in a third movie, it was kind of a bummer. It’s like, ‘What do we do next?’” he added. 

However, the filmmaker shared that hem and writers James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick came up with the idea that now Neve Campbell will reprise the character of Sidney Prescott for the upcoming flick.

“And then this idea to bring Sidney Prescott back - and not just bring her back, but to focus on her character, tell her story of who she is today - that got really exciting for me. And I think other people got really excited about it," he continued.

“And then they started writing a script. Jamie came up with this great story - Jamie Vanderbilt and Guy Busick - and they started to write this script, and it just sort of took on a life of its own," Kevin recounted. 

In conclusion, he said, “And then Neve read it and heard the pitch, and she signed on. And I was still just the executive producer who was just sort of there, watching from the sidelines.”