Though I was digging the idea of Michelle Rodriguez replacing Lake Bell in Scream 4, as Perri suggested in a recent post, or reader Breeze's idea of a little Clea DuVall, neither of these ladies are taking over the big shoes left by one Deputy Dewey. They're going an entirely different route, to a woman who moved up the ranks from Bubble Boy to face Planet Terror and struggle as one of the Women in Trouble. Yep, the brown-haired ladies are out, and blondie Marley Shelton is in, with a little help from Adam Brody and comic relief from Erik Knudsen.

THR's Heat Vision reports that Shelton, Brody, and Knudsen have joined the cast of Scream 4, as production kicks off this week. As stated, Shelton is playing a deputy who knew Sid back in the day in Woodsboro, Brody will play a cop and recent college grad who tends toward the CSI frame of mind, and Knudsen will play the Randy-type role -- the funny horror movie fan. Ghouls on Film, meanwhile, says Lauren Graham is out, but offers no word on her replacement.

All are just fine to me, but I was hoping that there would be a little of the old-school nods like there were in the first. You know, like Joseph Whipp -- aka Sgt. Parker in A Nightmare on Elm Street -- popping up as Sheriff Burke. It would be killer to see a main, but not starring, role like Graham's go to Heather Langenkamp (who is still working), or her Just the Ten of Us sister Brooke Theiss, who also faced Freddie.

Then again, I'm not convinced that Scream 4 can be worthy after the first installment (and marginally number 2), but perhaps I'm too solidly in the Randy camp. All I hope is that Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven can rediscover the magic that kicked off the series. The rest of the trilogy don't hold a candle to the chills of Drew Barrymore on that phone, where tension increases to the point where just when you think you can't take any more, Nick Cave's tune slices through the tension.