Courteney Cox says she is ready to direct Scream

Courteney Cox wants to direct a future Scream film.

The actor, who has played reporter Gale Weathers since the original 1996 movie, said she is open to stepping behind the camera for the horror series, according to Deadline. She made the comments while promoting her new film Evil Genius at the Deadline Studio during the Toronto International Film Festival.

Cox knows the franchise from the inside. She has appeared in every Scream entry as Gale, the sharp-tongued television reporter who keeps surviving Ghostface.

She returned for Scream 7 alongside Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott. The film was directed by Kevin Williamson, the writer who created the series. It earned nearly $208 million worldwide at the time of reporting, according to Deadline, and holds a 30% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, the lowest in the franchise.

The next film is already taking shape. Spyglass has hired Lilla and Nora Zuckerman to write an eighth Scream movie, Deadline reported.

Cox spoke as a director with fresh experience. Evil Genius is her second feature film as a director, made from a script by Courtenay Miles. It is a true-crime drama about the “pizza bomber” case, with Patricia Arquette, David Harbour and Tom McCarthy in the cast.

That case dates to 2003, when a pizza delivery man robbed a bank with a bomb locked around his neck, according to TIFF. Cox told The Hollywood Reporter she decided to direct the project after running into producer Barbara Schroeder at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

For fans, this means a familiar face could soon shape the story. No deal is in place. But after nearly three decades in front of the mask, Cox is putting her hand up to direct it.