David Arquette Opens Up About Watching Scream 6

Watching Scream 6 was difficult for David Arquette. The star has been playing the character Dewey Riley since the very first entry in the meta slasher franchise in 1996. While he returned alongside fellow survivors Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) for the previous outing Scream 2022, Dewey was murdered over the course of his investigation into the brutal new Ghostface killings.

While speaking with Variety on the red carpet of his new series Mrs. Davis, Arquette opened up about not being a part of the Scream 6 cast. Arquette revealed that it was challenging for him to watch the new sequel, which opened in theaters on March 10, but he knew he had to and he “loved it.” However, he still experienced “lots of FOMO” because he couldn’t participate in the film. Read his full quote below:

It was hard for me to do it, but I also knew I wanted to see it. I loved it.It was sad. I had lots of FOMO.

David Arquette and the Scream Franchise Are Inextricably Linked

Even though he is no longer part of the Scream franchise, Arquette will remain a permanent and important fixture of its legacy. Dewey Riley provided the beating heart of the series from the very first film, where his character survived due to audiences’ connection with his sweet and goofy personality. Because Scream has an unusual consistency of continuity for a slasher franchise, he had the chance to return and delight fans over the course of the next three decades before Dewey’s Scream 2022 death.

The Scream films also have a deep connection to Arquette’s personal life. The first Scream is where he met Cox, and their characters’ romance blossomed at the same time as their offscreen romance as they were dating during Scream 2 and had gotten married shortly before Scream 3. The franchise continued to hew closely to their lives, mirroring their eventual separation and divorce as well in Scream 4 and Scream 2022.

This kind of intense personal and narrative connection would make anyone reluctant to approach Scream 6. However, even though Dewey is dead, he is not absent from the franchise. In fact, there was a scene in the new film that paid tribute to him, featuring Gale grieving his death while his iconic theme plays on the score, highlighting how his influence will never be shed by the films or the characters within them.

Source: Variety