Courteney Cox is returning as Gale Weathers for Scream 5.
The Golden Globe-nominated actress, who starred as the tough-as-nails journalist in the first four instalments, joins previously announced cast member David Arquette as Dewey Riley.
The highly-anticipated sequel is being directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, of the filmmaking group Radio Silence (Ready or Not), from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt (Murder Mystery) and Guy Busick (Castle Rock).
“We can’t imagine Scream without the iconic Gale Weathers and are so incredibly thrilled and humbled to have the opportunity to work with Courteney,” Radio Silence told Deadline.
“We’re absolute mega fans of her work and we’re so excited to join her in the next chapter of the Scream saga!”
The first Scream was released in 1996 to universal acclaim and is credited with revitalising the horror genre. A sequel was released to similar praise one year later, while the 2000 threequel received mixed to negative reviews.
The franchise was revived in 2011 with a fourth instalment to positive reviews.
Neve Campbell – who plays series lead Sidney Prescott – recently revealed that she’s in discussions to return as her signature character one more time.
In an interview with YouTube star Jake Hamilton, the actress confirmed that she’s been in touch with Betinelli-Olpin and Gillett, who were announced as the successors to the late Wes Craven earlier this year.
“We’re having conversations. I have been approached about it,” she told Hamilton.
“The timing’s a bit challenging because of COVID. We only started the conversation maybe a month and a half ago, so it’s going to take some time to figure out how it’s all going to work out. We’re negotiating, so we’ll see.”
Campbell said the duo wrote her a “very touching letter” about Craven and how his work has inspired and influenced them as directors, saying they “really want to honour him and that meant a great, great deal to me.”
The actress continued to say that she loves playing Sidney and it’s “always fun for me to step back in her shoes, and it’s always fun for me to see the cast come back and make one of these films again and try to make another good one.”
The Spyglass Media Group-Paramount production will film late 2020/early 2021 in Wilmington, North Carolina.