In 1996, “Scream” came out of nowhere to bring the horror genre back from the dead like Michael Myers sitting up after a coat hanger to the eyeball. Acclaimed as the smartest horror film in years, it yielded a trilogy that would gross hundreds of millions of dollars and clear a path for dozens of self-aware genre flicks ranging from “Zombieland” to “Adaptation.”

Now, it’s getting ready to come back again for another stab.

“It’s going good,” said writer Kevin Williamson, giving us an exclusive update on the new trilogy (!) he’s writing. “I’ve gotta finish that baby.”

The series made box-office stars out of Neve Campbell, Jamie Kennedy and Skeet Ulrich as they were teamed alongside Drew Barrymore, Patrick Dempsey, Heather Graham and others in twisty, bloody plotlines. But according to Williamson, the new trilogy will only bring back three actors from the original series.

“The fourth one is an ensemble,” Williamson said of his “Scream 4″ script, which is being concurrently written with a fifth script as well. “It’ll take place right now, 10 years later, and it’s going to take place in [Sidney Prescott's hometown of] Woodsboro. We’ll have our three main characters, and we’ll be introducing several more.”

The three characters that will be returning are Sidney (Neve Campbell), Gale (Courteney Cox) and Dewey (David Arquette), Williamson confirmed, adding, “We’ll also be introducing a little group, a little ensemble of new castmembers. That’ll take us through the next three.”

Some might say that a new “Scream” movie couldn’t be as self-referential as the others, since self-aware entertainment has become so prevalent. But according to Williamson, he’s been writing plenty of spoof-heavy stuff into the “Scream 4″ script.

“I guess I’ll just have to be very aware of the fact that we’re a ‘4′ and that we’re beating a dead dog. I’m going to make that very apparent in the dialogue,” laughed the writer/producer, who is also hard at work these days making “The Vampire Diaries” into a TV juggernaut.

“Come on,” he laughed. “It’s the age of the remake! And 3-D and all that [other horror fad material], can you imagine what ['Scream' movie-within-a-movie] ‘Stab 10′ is like?”