This weekend has seen the release of Scream, a relaunch of the legendary horror franchise. But it’s not the first time the series has been rebooted. 2011’s Scream 4 previously breathed new life into the Ghostface legend following the original trilogy wrapping up in 2000. Fans may know that it was supposed to spawn two sequels to form its own trilogy, however these plans were scrapped when the film underperformed at the box office.
While it’s taken us until a decade later to return to Woodsboro, franchise creator and original screenwriter Kevin Williamson had a plan mapped out for Screams 5 and 6 that would’ve followed on directly from where Scream 4 left off. In an eye-opening interview with Bloody Disgusting, Williamson came clean about how Scream 5 could’ve turned out very differently if it had happened 10 years ago.
For one, Emma Roberts’ Jill would’ve returned as the series’ new protagonist, despite her being outed as the killer herself in the previous film. In a dark mirror of Scream 2, Scream 5 would’ve followed Jill going to college, where her murderous past catches up with her.
“Jill went to college, and then murders started on the campus,” Williamson explained. “And it was a killer who knew she was the killer from the last film. So the killer kept trying to expose her, so she would have to kill to keep it covered up. So it was killer meets killer. And Sidney was a professor at that school.”
As for Scream 6, the focus would’ve then switched to Courteney Cox’s Gale Weathers and David Arquette’s Dewey Riley, putting a button on their on-again/off-again romance in the process.
“Scream 6 was gonna answer whatever happened between Dewey and Gale,” Williamson added. “Sidney was in it, but it was more focused on Gale’s storyline.”
It’s fascinating to imagine what could’ve been here. Having Jill be the new final girl despite being a killer herself might’ve been a brilliant reinvention of the formula, recalling the way Psycho follows Norman Bates. Obviously, the conclusion to Scream 4 would’ve had to have been tweaked to allow for this continuation, though, given Jill’s death in that movie.
Thankfully, the fifth Scream we did end up getting is well worth the wait. Go see it for yourself in theaters now.
