Courteney Cox reveals Dewey was meant to die in the original Scream

Courteney Cox and David Arquette in Scream

(Image credit: Dimension Films)

Scream star Courteney Cox has revealed that fan-favorite character Dewey was set to die in the original movie.

The new film – simply titled Scream – sees the return of Cox, Neve Campbell, and David Arquette as their iconic characters Gale Weathers, Sidney Prescott, and Dewey Riley. As it turns out, if the original plan had been followed, we would have bid goodbye to Dewey over 25 years ago.

"I was actually with one of the producers not long ago and there was a time, I think it was in the first Scream, where David's character Dewey was gonna be killed off," Cox told Pedestrian TV.

Luckily, Dewey was just too likeable to die. "Then they saw how he came across and people loved him so they scrapped it," Cox explained.

While Dewey ended up surviving the finale of the original Scream, he has had a fair few close calls across the franchise. As for his fate in the fifth movie, you'll find no spoilers here.

"It wasn't concrete advice," Melissa Barrera told GamesRadar+ of working with the legacy cast on the new film. "At least I didn't get any. But just watching them, just watching them work, watching them so seamlessly slip right back into those characters that they played for 25 years was fascinating and thrilling to watch. But also, all the knowledge that they bring with them of the first four movies, the stories that they told us of anecdotes that they've gone through, from when they first met in the first movie, how it was, how they didn't expect it to become such a huge hit. And just seeing their professionalism, it really was a life lesson. It was a lesson for me, I loved watching them work."

Scream is playing exclusively in theaters now. If you're all caught up, check out our guide to the Scream ending explained, and see our full interview with the cast for even more on the movie.

I'm the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.