Is Wes Craven Not Happy About MTV’s ‘Scream’ Series?

MTV is bringing the hit Wes Craven-directed slasher franchise Scream to television screens this summer. And even though Craven is credited as being an executive producer, he may not have any involvement with the series at all.

During an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Wes Craven said he allowed MTV to use his name in the credits, but he won’t be able to work on the series.

“I just put my name on it. I was too busy to do much else.”

The trailer for the Scream television series premiered earlier this week, as previously reported by the Inquisitr. One of the things fans may have noticed was the absence of the popular Ghostface killer mask that was used in Wes Craven’s movie franchise.

Rumors immediately began to fly that MTV didn’t have the rights to use the iconic mask. However, the network’s Senior Vice President Mina Lefevre told Entertainment Weekly that they wanted to go a different route than what Wes Craven had already crafted.

“It’s a darker, almost more grounded, evolved version of the mask. It’s something we’re constantly talking about. How did that mask become that mask? What’s its purpose? How did it evolve? If the Scream movie mask was the more plastic version, for a lack of a better description, this one is a more organic looking and frankly darker version.”

While talking to the Hollywood Reporter, Craven insisted that the Ghostface mask was the best one to use for the Scream franchise, and that’s the reason why the same one is used in all four films.

“I knew it in my bones that [Ghostface] was a unique find, and I had to convince the studio that they had to go the extra mile to get it.”

For New Nightmare, the final Nightmare on Elm Street film in which Wes Craven was involved, Freddy Krueger looked different than it did in the other films. Craven now feels that he should have stuck with the character’s original look.

“It would have been safer.”

Wes Craven added that changing the way an iconic serial killer looks can be a bad thing for any franchise.

“Sometimes, you realize that something’s not broken, so don’t fix it. And that was the course we took on all the Scream films: Don’t mess with that, it’s just perfect.”

It’s not just Wes Craven who won’t be involved with the series. Roger Jackson, who was the voice of Ghostface, told the Hollywood Reporter he won’t appear in the series, and he doesn’t like the killer’s new look.

“I can’t picture it. How can you have Scream without Ghostface? It’s like Friday the 13th without Jason.”

How do you feel about Wes Craven and Roger Jackson not having any involvement with the Scream television series?

[Image credit: Dimension Films via Monster High Fandom]