Scream star teases potential return to franchise after two decades

Patrick Dempsey played detective Mark Kincaid in 2000’s Scream 3

Patrick Dempsey has teased that he might return in Scream 7 and reprise his character Mark Kincaid from Scream 3.

In an interview, the Grey’s Anatomy star said he had been approached to return and that he was waiting to receive a script.

“I’m waiting on the script,” Dempsey said on the Today Show. “There has been a conversation about it. I haven’t seen anything yet. So, we’ll see what happens.”

Kincaid originally appeared in 2000’s Scream 3, as a detective investigating the Ghostface murders. He survived Ghostface in the film, and though he has never returned in any of the other Scream instalments, it was confirmed in 2022’s Scream that he was married to Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott and the couple had three children together.

Responding to a question on how he felt about returning to the franchise, Dempsey said: “I mean, you know, it’s always good to have a job.”

Dempsey also talked about working with Campbell again on Grey’s Anatomy in Season 9, where she played Derek Shepherd’s sister, Liz.

“Neve was actually on the show. Which is oddly enough, she played my sister on Grey’s Anatomy and we worked together almost 26 – 27 years ago. I think it was ’99,” he said.

Patrick Dempsey as Mark Kincaid in Scream 3 (Konrad Pictures/Craven/Maddalena Films)

Scream 7 has been the subject of much controversy , after the departure of former series star Melissa Barrera, Wednesday actor Jenna Ortega, as well as former director Christopher Landon.

Barrera, who played Sam Carpenter, was fired from the horror franchise due to comments she made about the Israel-Hamas war and attacks on Gaza on social media in November 2023.

Soon after, it was announced that Ortega, who played Barrera’s younger sister Tara in Scream (2022) and Scream VI, would also not return for Scream 7 due to scheduling conflicts for the next season of the Netflix hit series Wednesday.

Landon shared, in a statement on social media platform X, that he too had departed from Scream 7, claiming that the project was “a dream job that turned into a nightmare”.

Neve Campbell in Scream (Universal Pictures)

In March 2024, Campbell announced that she would be returning to the franchise. She also revealed that screenwriter and director Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original Scream (1996), Scream 2 (1997) and Scream 4 (2011) and executive produced the 2022 Scream reboot and its 2023 sequel, will take over as director of the seventh film.

The actor, who has played series protagonist Sidney Prescott in five of the Scream films, initially exited the films a year beforeScream 6was filmed after a pay dispute.

Scream 7 is set to release on 27 February, 2026.