MTV’s Scream TV project has been really on the ball over the past several weeks, hiring a slew of young faces to play key roles. Although a good chunk of the show’s casting news has been recent, on Friday it leaked that the lineup will actually be changing. The Killing’s Bex Taylor-Klaus has joined the young-skewing cast, taking over for actress Amy Forsyth.
Forsyth was set to play teenager Amy Jenson, a young woman who happens to be a catalyst for the events in the Scream series. Early on, Jenson is expected to be the star of a viral video that leads to a murder and “opens up a window to her town’s troubled past.” Clearly, Jenson’s a pretty important role in the Scream series and MTV would obviously want to choose the best person for the gig. Apparently, that wasn’t Forsyth, as Deadline is reporting that the actress was displaced after a table read for the project didn’t go as expected. Soon after, Taylor-Klaus was signed on to star in the series.
If the table read didn’t go so hot, it’s easy to see why the show would drop Forsyth for Taylor-Klaus. She had a recurring role in The Killing and currently pops up on Arrow. In short, she’s extremely seasoned and has been on the radar of more than a few industry observers who have pegged her as a potential breakout star. That doesn’t mean she’s necessarily better than Forsyth, but considering how much hope MTV is putting into Scream, it makes sense they would want to take a safer approach.
The original Scream film was released all the way back in 1996. Thanks to its shocking first kill and sharp sense of humor, it was an immediate hit with fans, grossing almost $175,000,000 and launching a franchise that is still churning out new movies. This Scream incarnation will continue that legacy and hopefully, add new and exciting layers to it. Say what you will about MTV, but the cable network has the money to churn out good scripts and good special effects. Nothing about this project will be cheap. It’s just a matter of whether or not intelligent and creative choices will be made, but since original director Wes Craven is on board, there is a lot of reason for hope.
Just don’t expect the content to be quite so racy. The original film carried a hard R-rating. In fact, it was given the big, ugly NC-17 several times before Craven was able to cut just enough material to get the thumbs up. MTV isn’t willing to go that far, but it is likely we’ll see PG-13 level action.
