In Brief: Joel McHale joining ‘Scream’ franchise, and more

Joel McHale is joining the Scream franchise. The actor will play Sidney Prescott’s husband, Mark Evans, in Scream 7. Deadline first broke the news on Thursday. As previously reported, Neve Campbell is returning to the role of Sidney in the seventh Scream film, along with a cast that will also include Courteney Cox, Mason Gooding, Isabel May, Celeste O’Connor, Asa Germann, Mckenna Grace, Sam Rechner and Anna Camp. The film is currently in production in Atlanta …

Conan O’Brien is set to receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. “I am honored to be the first winner of the Mark Twain Prize recognized not for humor, but for my work as a riverboat pilot,” O’Brien said. The prize will be awarded to O’Brien on March 23 in The Kennedy Center Concert Hall, and the program will premiere on Netflix on a yet-to-be-announced date …

Fox has renewed its crime series Murder In A Small Town for a second season. The show, which stars Rossif Sutherland and Kristin Kreuk, is based on the Edgar Award-winning book series from L.R. Wright. “We look forward to giving fans a second season of Karl Alberg’s unmatched expertise as a crime solver in Murder in a Small Town,” Brooke Bowman, of Fox Television Network, said. “We’ve enjoyed a terrific partnership with Sepia and Future Shack and our incredibly talented cast and crew and can’t wait to see what’s in store for our characters next season.” …