Scream 5 Continues Filming Despite 3 Positive COVID Tests

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The cast and crew of Scream 5 are set to continue filming on Monday despite three people related to the film testing positive for COVID. Filming on Scream 5 began earlier this month in Wilmington, North Carolina. New cast members Jack Quaid, Dylan Minnette, and Sonia Ammar join legacy cast members Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette for the latest entry in the long-running horror franchise. Little is known about the plot of the film, but Kevin Williamson is serving as an executive producer after creating the franchise in 1996.

Horror icon Wes Craven, who directed the first four entries, sadly passed away in 2015. The involvement of original cast members Campbell, Cox, and Arquette should assuage fears that the film will stray from its origins, though. Filming was originally scheduled to begin in May 2020, but like many other productions, was shifted deeper into the year because of the pandemic. Scream 5 was originally scheduled for a 2021 release, but that too was delayed, with the film now releasing on January 14, 2022.

According to Deadline, despite three members of the production testing positive for COVID, production is set to continue. Filming wrapped as scheduled on Friday before breaking for the weekend. As of right now, production on Scream 5 is set to resume as normal on Monday. The three crew members that tested positive have been quarantined and are subject to more tests. Additionally, contact tracing has been implemented but has not yet resulted in any other members of the crew being quarantined.

It is becoming increasingly common for productions to experience positive tests on set. Just this month, Robert Pattinson's positive COVID test forced production on Warner Bros.' The Batman to shutdown. As the industry adapts to this new normal, it is expected that this will become a frequent occurrence, especially until a vaccine is widely distributed. Typically though, a production will shutdown when a positive test occurs, but contrary to rumors, this isn't the case for Scream 5.

The fact that production is not shutting down entirely is interesting. This could attest to the effectiveness of the studio's COVID protocols. It could also simply mean that those who tested positive were not heavily involved in the production. It surely implies that no main cast members have tested positive, seeing as they are able to resume filming as scheduled. What this does mean, though, is that there is no set roadmap for just how to handle these situations; each studio and each production will be different. Luckily for horror fans, Scream 5 has escaped a shutdown and will proceed as planned.