If one of the franchise’s stars was worried enough about Scream 7 to turn it down, everyone should be concerned about it, too. The upcoming Scream movie has undergone many changes over the course of the past few years. It was originally going to feature the returns of Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera as Tara and Sam Carpenter, respectively, to ᴀssumingly close out their storylines and complete a trilogy that began with Scream (2022). However, after the directors of the fifth and sixth films, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, exited the project in August 2023, it was all downhill from there.

Barrera was fired from Scream 7 in November 2023, and shortly after that, news broke that Ortega wouldn’t be returning either. Consequently, the upcoming slasher film changed drastically. Kevin Williamson, the creator of the Scream movie series, took over as director, while Guy Busick, who wrote Scream (2022) and Scream VI with James Vanderbilt, wrote the script based on a story by himself and Vanderbilt. Additionally, it was announced that numerous franchise actors, like Neve Campbell, would reprise their roles in Scream 7, further proving the mad scramble behind the scenes to get the sequel back on track.

Jenna Ortega Says Scream 7 Was “Falling Apart” & It’s Easy To See Why

The Sequel Has Been A Mess From The Start

During an interview with The Cut in April 2024, Jenna Ortega disclosed the real reason why she exited Scream 7. It was previously thought that scheduling conflicts (as she was filming Wednesday season 2) were to blame for the actress departing the movie. However, according to Ortega, that wasn’t the case. She told The Cut:

“It had nothing to do with pay or scheduling. The Melissa [Barrera] stuff was happening, and it was all kind of falling apart. If Scream 7 wasn’t going to be with that team of directors and those people I fell in love with, then it didn’t seem like the right move for me in my career at the time.”

Based on everything that has happened behind the scenes (at least, what is public knowledge), it’s understandable why Ortega wouldn’t want to be involved with Scream 7. She said it perfectly — everything was “falling apart.” It would be tough for any film production to bounce back from all those changes and controversies, which is why so many people (including myself) are concerned about what’s to come. Hopefully, Scream 7 will be a masterpiece, proving us all wrong for being worried. However, until it premieres, we can only go with what we got, and what we got is the feeling of impending doom.

Scream 7 Is Relying On Big Returns To Fill The Void (& That’s A Big Risk)

Past Ghostface Killers Are Returning

In the wake of all the changes and controversies, the producers of Scream 7 seemingly decided that the best course of action to counteract everything that had gone wrong was to bring back some familiar faces. Scream franchise actors like Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox are understandably reprising their roles in the upcoming sequel. Cox has been in the first six movies, after all. However, after it was announced that Matthew Lillard would appear as Stu Macher (a long-ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Ghostface) it became clear that Scream 7 is relying heavily on big returns to ensure its success.

Other ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Scream characters like Roman Bridger and Dewey Riley are set to return in the seventh film, as well. It’s unclear in what capacity, but both are as ᴅᴇᴀᴅ as anyone can be in this universe. So, they likely won’t be coming back alive. Ultimately, there is a reason why Paramount Pictures revealed the returns of Roman, Stu, and Dewey ahead of Scream 7‘s premiere instead of saving them as a surprise — the sequel’s foundation is a mess and the studio must cover it up with distracting, exciting faces.

Source: The Cut