As a famous character from another long-running cinematic franchise once said, "No one's ever really gone." That axiom goes double for horror franchises, whether you're talking about a fierce survivor or a vicious killer. The return of the latter type of character is such a cliche that the original "Scream" from 1996 made explicit reference to it during its finale. Before Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) could "come back to life for one last scare," as film nerd Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) warned, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) shot him in the head. "Not in my movie," she intoned, signifying once again that "Scream" knew the rules and could either play by them or break them.

After series director Wes Craven passed away in 2015, the "Scream" franchise has been taken over by the filmmakers collectively known as Radio Silence (directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and producer Chad Villella) to much praise and success. Their "Scream" from 2022, the fifth film in the series, reunited Sidney with returning veteran characters as well as a group of new protagonists and potential suspects. However, a dispute over the actress' salary meant that she did not end up returning for "Scream VI" this past March.

Despite Sidney's absence, "Scream VI" turned out to be a solid entry in the "Scream" series, proving that the franchise could continue without the character who once was its main heroine. Still, there seems to be hope that Sidney and Campbell will one day return to the series, at least on Radio Silence's part.

The (Potential) Return Of Sidney

In "Scream VI," when the character of Sidney Prescott is mentioned, Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) explains away her absence with a line of dialogue, stating that she's moved her family to a secure location and that she deserves a "happy ending."

The apparent finality of that phrase would seem to indicate that Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett, along with writers James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick, want to give the impression that Sidney's story is definitively over. However, that's apparently not the case, at least not according to the directors. As they told The Hollywood Reporter a few months ago, the moment is intended only as a temporary explanation for her absence in "VI" and not a closed door. Bettinelli-Olpin further clarified his hope for Campbell to return someday:

"We'd never give up on her. We love Neve, and we love Sidney. So we'd love to be able to make another movie with her, and we're not giving up."

While Radio Silence's "Scream" films are far more centered on the character of Sam (Melissa Barrera), the Final Girl struggling with her blood relation to the evil Billy Loomis, the shift in focus doesn't preclude Sidney from returning, perhaps as soon as "Scream VII," whenever that film may be officially announced.

The Return Of The (Scream) Queen

Given the "Scream" franchise's predilection for mimicking (er, paying homage to) cinematic trends both within and without the horror genre, the potential return of Sidney to the series has a lot of precedents to back it up.

The best and clearest prior examples of a Final Girl/survivor character returning to the fold can be found within horror franchise history itself. For instance, Wes Craven's other iconic horror franchise, "A Nightmare on Elm Street," saw Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) skip out on 1985's "Part 2: Freddy's Revenge" after the 1984 original, only to return in 1987's "Part 3: Dream Warriors" and, later, as a version of "Heather Langenkamp" in 1994's "New Nightmare." Clive Barker's "Hellraiser" series followed the adventures of Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Lawrence) from the 1987 original to 1988's "Hellraiser II: Hellbound," and while she didn't appear in the next several installments, Kirsty and Lawrence turned up again in 2002's "Hellraiser: Hellseeker."

Of course, the prime example of a returning scream queen lies with the "Halloween" franchise and Jamie Lee Curtis, who returned to portray Laurie Strode not once, but several times after her character was assumed finished. After appearing in 1978's "Halloween" and 1981's "Halloween II," Curtis and Laurie returned for 1998's "Halloween H20" and its ill-advised follow-up, "Halloween: Resurrection" in 2002, which saw Laurie killed off. Not so fast, though — Laurie came back in David Gordon Green's 2018 "Halloween," and got to finish her story (or at least this version of it) with 2021's "Halloween Kills" and 2022's "Halloween Ends."

All that is to say that Sidney Prescott and Neve Campbell have ample opportunity and options to return to "Scream," at least in cinematic terms. Whatever ends up happening, all involved should heed Sidney's own words well: "Don't f*** with the original."

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