It’s now been confirmed that Joel McHale will be playing Sidney’s husband, Mark, in Scream 7, a role that was previously implied to be played by Patrick Dempsey’s same-named franchise character. With Neve Campbell reprising her role as the iconic final girl Sidney Prescott in Scream 7’s cast, the franchise is returning to its focus on her family and never-ending battle with Ghosfaces. However, since Campbell was notably absent from Scream 6 (2023) and had a smaller role in Scream (2022), knowledge about her family in the reboot movies has only been revealed through brief references.

When Sidney Prescott returned after a decade-long gap between Scream 4 (2011) and Scream (2022), it was revealed that she had since gotten married, had kids, and moved away from Woodsboro. In Scream 6, Sidney’s husband was only referred to as “Mark,” with her kids still being unnamed. Even though there wasn’t any elaboration on Sidney’s husband, the fact that his name was “Mark” implied that she married Patrick Dempsey’s Scream 3 character Detective Mark Kincaid, who she seemed to be romantically involved with in the film’s ending. As such, Joel McHale being cast as Sidney’s husband in Scream 7 came as a big surprise.

Scream 7 Technically Didn’t Recast Patrick Dempsey With Joel McHale

Joel McHale Is Playing Mark Evans, Not Mark Kincaid

While Joel McHale is now playing Sidney’s husband, Mark, instead of Patrick Dempsey, who was speculated to return, the latter technically hasn’t been recast. Joel McHale is playing Mark Evans, while Patrick Dempsey played Mark Kincaid, so they aren’t the same person. But, that doesn’t make McHale’s casting any less complicated. It was heavily implied that Sidney’s husband was Mark Kincaid, and that notion wasn’t denied by the cast or filmmakers in the reboot movies, which unintentionally misled viewers. Plus, since Scream (2022) and Scream 6 never explicitly called Sidney’s husband “Mark Kincaid,” McHale’s casting technically isn’t a retcon.

Part of the reason why McHale’s casting reveal is so confusing is that Patrick Dempsey confirmed in October 2024 he was in negotiations to reprise his role (via EW), which only would have made sense if Mark Kincaid really did marry Sidney. It now seems that Dempsey’s negotiations fell through, so Scream 7 had to backtrack and find someone else to play Sidney’s husband. Rather than recast Dempsey, Scream 7 rolled with the fact that any “confirmation” of Kincaid being her husband was only behind-the-scenes – so McHale’s Mark could be a brand-new character without breaking canon.

How Sidney Not Being Married To Mark Kincaid Changes Expectations For Scream 7

Sidney’s Husband Potentially Being Ghostface Is Back On The Table

When it was ᴀssumed that Patrick Dempsey’s Mark Kincaid would be Sidney’s husband in Scream 7, the expectations for that role were quite different. Dempsey’s possible casting weakened the idea that her husband could potentially turn out to be Ghostface, especially given Kincaid’s history with Roman’s Ghostface in Scream 3 and supporting Sidney off-screen through the subsequent attacks in Scream (2022) and Scream 6. He’s someone that Gale Weathers also knew and trusted from their shared traumas, but that isn’t the case for Joel McHale’s Mark Evans.

Audiences now have no expectations about Joel McHale’s Scream 7 character other than what they can glean from the context of the actor’s performance style, reputation, and previous roles. Of course, for every Scream movie, that makes the suspicion around McHale’s Mark Evans potentially being Ghostface even greater. Without already knowing who Mark Evans is, how he originally met Sidney, and whether he has any other potential connections to past Ghostface mᴀssacres, he can’t be as easily written off as a killer suspect in Scream 7 as Mark Kincaid.

Source: EW