Scream 5 made it abundantly clear that anything can happen in a requel with the brutal murder of David Arquette's beloved Dewey Riley. The fan-favorite former sheriff had been a franchise mainstay since the original Scream movie, but Ghostface finally caught up to him in the fivequel.
Speaking ahead of the release of Scream 6, Total Film asked directors Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin their thoughts on Dewey's death now that a year has passed – and if they're still certain it was the right decision.
"It hurts," Bettinelli-Olpin admits. "We love Dewey." Gillett chimes in, "I don't think we'd ever walk back that choice, though," and Bettinelli-Olpin agrees: "Exactly."
"I think you have to watch your heroes die in order to create room for new stories and to watch how that affects the characters," continues Gillett. "I think that Gale's story in this one is really deep and significant because of that loss, and certainly Sam and Tara and Mindy and Chad, they're also all dealing with Dewey's loss as part of this greater, traumatic experience that they had in the last movie. So I think as long as those deaths inform character in a way that is meaningful and significant, then it's worth breaking those eggs, as hard as it is."
"I'm still sad about Randy," Bettinelli-Olpin adds – Jamie Kennedy's meta mastermind was killed in Scream 2 – a sentiment that Gillett shares: "Yeah, totally."
While Dewey doesn't miraculously return in Scream 6, then, Courteney Cox's Gale Weathers and Hayden Panettiere's Kirby Reed are both back for another bout against Ghostface, as are Melissa Barrera's Sam, Jenna Ortega's Tara, Jasmin Savoy Brown's Mindy, and Mason Gooding's Chad. Newcomers include Dermot Mulroney's Detective Bailey and Josh Segarra's Danny.
Scream 6 is in UK cinemas and US theaters now. For much more on the movie, see our exclusive interview with the cast and directors through the link, and read the lowdown on if the movie has a post-credits scene or not.
You can also keep up to date with the year's theatrical releases with our guide to all the major upcoming movie release dates.
