More than three decades after Maureen Prescott’s murder set everything in motion, Sidney Prescott is stepping into a very different chapter of her life in Scream 7.
This time, she isn’t just the survivor. She’s a mother, and according to Neve Campbell, that shift gives Sidney a powerful emotional arc that ties directly back to where the franchise began.
Campbell, who returns to the role after sitting out the previous installment, recently opened up about where we find Sidney when the new film hits theaters on February 27.
She’s living in a small town, raising a family, and trying to build the kind of life that once felt impossible.
“It’s a whole full-circle story for Sidney,” she told TotalFilm. “There’s a lot of trauma around her motherhood and her mother.
“She’s made the very brave choice to have children herself. And she’s made this decision, she wants to live in this small town, have a family, and overcome her past.”
That decision doesn’t come easy. Sidney grew up with unimaginable trauma after her mother, Maureen Prescott, was murdered.
In the original Scream from 1996, a masked Ghostface begins targeting Sidney and her friends one year after Maureen’s death.
The killers are eventually revealed to be her boyfriend Billy Loomis, played by Skeet Ulrich, and his friend Stu Macher, played by Matthew Lillard.
Billy’s motive is rooted in the affair between his father and Maureen, which caused his mother to leave.
The wounds only deepened in Scream 3 when Maureen’s past resurfaced yet again.
It was revealed that her abandoned son Roman Bridger, played by Scott Foley, orchestrated a new string of murders.
The film also suggested that Maureen was sexually assaulted while trying to make it in Hollywood, adding another tragic layer to Sidney’s family history.
All of that history weighs on Sidney as she raises her own daughter, Tatum, played by Isabel May. Choosing to become a mother means confronting the fear that the violence tied to her past could find its way back to her doorstep.
Campbell continued, “And of course, she’s got great fear that that will come to visit her family, which it does. But she gets to sort of heal that wound.”
That idea of healing feels like the emotional core of Scream 7. Sidney isn’t just running from Ghostface anymore.
She’s fighting for her family and trying to break a cycle that started long before she ever put on a headset and answered a creepy phone call.
The film brings back several familiar faces alongside Campbell, including Scott Foley, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Matthew Lillard, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Mason Gooding.
They’re joined by newcomers Joel McHale, Celeste O’Connor, Asa Germann, Mckenna Grace, Sam Rechner, Michelle Randolph, Jimmy Tatro, Anna Camp, Mark Consuelos, and Ethan Embry.
For longtime fans, this next chapter looks like more than just another Ghostface mystery. It’s a story about legacy, trauma, and what it means to build a future when your past refuses to stay buried.
Seeing Sidney Prescott step into motherhood might be one of the most compelling directions the franchise has taken yet.
After everything she’s survived, watching her fight for her own child feels like the natural evolution of a character who has always refused to stay down.
Source: Deadline