The directors of Scream 5 have said they were made to film an alternate ending to their horror movie. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett took the reins on the new Scream movie and mainly were given carte blanche to do what they wanted with the unfortunate residents of Westboro. There was just one thing they got pushback on; the death of Dewey (David Arquette).
Like Sidney (Neve Campbell) and Gale (Courtney Cox), Dewey has been a mainstay of the Scream franchise since the beginning, miraculously serving each new Ghostface by the skin of his teeth. In 2022’s Scream, though, his luck ran out, and the new Ghostface managed what none of their predecessors had and ended the lawman’s life.
Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillet had always planned on killing off Dewey however the studio was slightly resistant. So resistant, in fact, they asked the pair to film an alternate ending that implied Dewey had somehow managed to survive being filleted like an expensive piece of beef. The pair admitted though they never had any intention of using it.
“We very begrudgingly got one shot that you could put some voiceover over, like, ‘He woke up from surgery, he’s gonna be fine,'” Gilletttold Variety. “With no intention of ever fucking using it.”
“Just to describe the shot,” Bettinelli-Olpin added. “It was an over-the-shoulder from behind Gale and Sid of a doctor’s legs. It was absolutely not really a usable shot. ‘Shot’ is very generous.”
During the same interview, the pair were clear that while Dewey was always going to go to the sheriff’s office in the sky, they never intended to kill off Cox or Campbell’s characters. Could they be saving their deaths for Scream 6 and 7? We’ll have to wait and see.
Scream (2022) is in theatres now.