Scream 2022 co-director Tyler Gillett has teased the possibility of future sequels in the famed horror franchise. With just over two months to go before the fifth installment of the series arrives, there’s still not a lot known about what’s in store for fans. The sequel comes over a decade after the previous entry, and with the death of series creator Wes Craven in 2015, many fans feared that Scream had finally reached its end, 19 years after it began.
The idea of continuing the franchise without Craven initially wasn’t that popular of a solution for some, however. Fans are always particularly protective of the franchises that they love, and in the case of moving forward with a fifth Scream, even some of the series’ most beloved characters weren’t sure they wanted to do more without Craven. This issue was key to Scream 2022’s directors, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett. After assuring fans and key cast members that this was a project that was intended to honor everything Craven had established in the series while pushing things forward, the new film became a reality. Now, a decade after Craven first declared that Scream 5 would happen, it’s just around the corner.
But as people wait to see how good of a job the first Scream film not directed by Craven does, it seems that Gillett is already counting on the film to kickstart future sequels. Though not directly confirmed by the filmmaker, in a new interview with Total Film [h/t Hello Sidney], Gillett spoke about the quality of Scream 2022’s script and how it justifies more Scream stories thanks to its “wonderful” characters. Insisting that there’s “more gas in the tank” with regard to the franchise’s future, Gillett stated:
“This new cast of characters is so wonderful. The legacy cast, they’re so wonderful. I think what we discovered, and what [screenwriters] Guy [Busick] and James [Vanderbilt] did, is they found a real reason for the next story to exist. We know that there is more gas in the tank. There are more stories to be told in Woodsboro, and about these characters, for sure.”
It’s difficult to imagine just what could happen in the latest film to not only justify more sequels, but to also merit the proclamation that there are more stories to be told. Fans of the Scream franchise know that every sequel after 1996’s Scream wasn’t exactly justified – the entire series could have come to an end after that first film, with the most vital questions answered. But what has made Scream thrive all these years has arguably been its ability to have fun while also keeping audiences on edge. None of the sequels to date have provided essential information that wasn’t previously made clear. In this way, the franchise has always felt more like its aims have been to find new reasons to exist.
If, however, Scream 2022 manages to create something out of the franchise that takes it all to a new level, then fans could be in for a real treat. Judging by everything that’s been reported to date about the film, the goal is to do just that. How that can be done without rebooting the entire concept of the original Scream is difficult to imagine, but clearly Busick and Vanderbilt have focused on that specific goal with this latest entry.
Source: Total Film [H/T Hello Sidney]
