The one role Alison Brie is desperate to reprise: “We could bring her back”
There isn’t another current film franchise that has judiciously brought in talented cast members, only to kill them off in graphic detail, like the Scream saga.
The original 1996 classic directed by Wes Craven set a bold precedent by showcasing the murder of Drew Barrymore’s character within its opening scene, despite the fact that she had been prominently featured in the trailers and marketing campaign. Ever since, the Scream sequels have been just as ruthless, meaning that only a few cast members have stayed with the entire series.
Alison Brie has a short, yet memorable role in Scream 4 as Rebecca Walters, a publicist and assistant to Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott. Since the sequel takes place many years after Sidney survived the events of the first three Scream films, Sidney has now grown prominent as an author of self-help books, which Rebecca has helped in publishing. In an ironic twist of fate, she never actually reads much of what Sidney has written, which makes her completely oblivious to the threat of an emergent Ghostface killer when they return to Woodsboro.
It’s interesting to rewatch Scream 4 because it took place at a much earlier period of Brie’s career, in which her performances on Community and Mad Men were still in their infancy. She would grow in prominence within the next decade and land more substantial roles in other films, but Scream 4 provided her with an invaluable experience of working with Wes Craven on what became his final film as the beloved horror director died only a few years later.
Given that the Scream franchise has not ended, as new sequels made by other directors have been released since, there’s always the possibility that older cast members could be asked to return. Brie even joked on the Shut Up Evan podcast that she was interested in joining the cast of Scream 7, even if her husband Dave Franco reminded her that her character “dies brutally”.
There isn’t much ambiguity surrounding whether Rebecca is alive, but the franchise has found ways to bring back actors in nontraditional ways, even if their characters have been killed, such as Skeet Ulrich, who played the killer Billy Loomis in the original Scream, reprised his role for the fifth and sixth instalments as a ghostly presence that haunts his daughter, Sam Carpenter, played by Melissa Barrera. Moreover, the upcoming Scream 7 is set to feature the return of Matthew Lillard as Stu Macher, despite the fact that he was also killed in the first film.
Given how many former stars are returning for the upcoming film, it wouldn’t be implausible for Brie to make an appearance; however, the question of whether she would actually go through with it is a bit more complicated, given how controversial Scream 7 has become.
The film was re-shaped in development after Spyglass decided to fire Barrera after claiming that she had posted antisemitic comments on social media, and shortly after, her co-star Jenna Ortega and director Christopher Landon also departed from the project.
Whether Scream 7, which is directed by the original film’s screenwriter Kevin Williamson, will actually be good is unclear, but Brie might have to determine if reprising her dream role is worth dealing with the baggage involved in being part of a controversial franchise.
