Melissa Barrera is ready to Scream…
The 30-year-old Mexican actress, who recently ended her three-season run on Starz’s Vida, has landed akey role in Scream 5.
Barrera is the first new cast member to be announced for the anticipated Spyglass Media and Paramount Pictures relaunch.
Friends alum and legacy cast member Courteney Cox will be reprising her role in the franchise as dogged reporter Gale Weathers alongside David Arquette, who is coming back as Dewey Riley. Neve Campbell, who portrayed Sidney Prescott in the slasher film, told press in May that she was in talks to join the movie.
Cameras are due to roll in Wilmington, North Carolina, this fall and the project is due to wrap by year’s end. Additional casting is underway on the ensemble horror.
Scream 5 is being directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick.
Creator Kevin Williamson and Chad Villella are executive producing.
The Scream franchise, through four films dating back to 1996, has grossed more than $600M at the global box office. The late Wes Craven directed all four movies. Williamson wrote the original film as well as Scream 2 and Scream 4.
Barrera, who was named to Variety’s 10 Latinxs to Watch list earlier this year, will next appear in Warner Bros.’ film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning Broadway musical hit In The Heights. That film is due for release next year.
This fall she’ll star as the title character in the film Carmen, the modern-day reimagining of the classic opera. The movie will mark the feature debut of Black Swan choreographer Benjamin Millepied and will feature music from composer Nicholas Britell and Grammy winner Julieta Venegas.
