The actress broke the news on Instagram Tuesday, posting a photo of a 'Scream 7' script with her name on it -- and some other interesting deets about who's writing this, and who's directing (more on that later).

NC writes, "I’m so excited to announce this news!!! Sidney Prescott is coming back!!!! It’s always been such a blast and an honor to get to play Sidney in the Scream movies. My appreciation for these films and for what they have meant to me, has never waned."

She adds, "I’m very happy and proud to say I’ve been asked, in the most respectful way, to bring Sidney back to the screen and I couldn’t be more thrilled!!! Well actually I could."

Neve goes on to say that she's honored to work on this latest installment with the original screenwriter for the first and second films -- Kevin Williamson -- who's now directing.

She finishes by saying ... "To the amazing Scream fans, I hope you are as excited as I am. See you on set."

Clearly, whatever pay issues Neve had when she first walked away from 'Scream 6' have been resolved -- remember, she first said the honchos behind the film weren't shelling out a wage that she considered fair ... and as a result, she was absent from the last movie.

Of course, in the aftermath of all that ... the 'Scream' franchise has lost two of its lead stars -- Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega -- so this move to get Neve back into the mix as the main character (again) is sort of a no-brainer. She's the soul of the franchise, after all.

It's interesting ... earlier this year, Neve strongly suggested she was open to returning amid all the chaos the franchise had been experiencing of late -- but also implied she'd only come back for the right amount of money. Clearly, they wrote her a fat check.