Cast changes, director shake-ups, a full creative retooling—Scream 7’s journey to movie theaters has been plagued by controversy.
The franchise’s second life has always been a little cursed; may we never forget when original Scream queen Neve Campbell refused to appear in Scream VI over a salary dispute. But Scream 7 has managed to take the spectacle to a new level.
As we approach the long-awaited release of Scream 7 in theaters on Friday, let’s unpack all the controversy that led to this moment, from Barrera’s abrupt firing by the studio to a revolving door of directors. Perhaps behind-the-scenes drama is the scariest thing of all. March 6, 2023 At the premiere of Scream VI, directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett tell Deadline that they’re hoping for a seventh Scream film. “We want to be watching Scream movies, whether we’re involved or not, for the rest of our lives,” Bettinelli-Olpin says. March 13, 2023 In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett give fans a glimmer of hope that they’ll see Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott again. Despite the pay dispute that led to Campbell’s absence from Scream VI—the first film in the series not to feature her character—they insist they’re never saying never. “We’d never give up on her,” Bettinelli-Olpin says. “We love Neve, and we love Sidney. So we’d love to be able to make another movie with her, and we’re not giving up.” August 2, 2023 Scream 7 is officially announced—but without Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett as directors. The duo exits the project due to scheduling conflicts with a then unannounced original horror film , and Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon is hired in their place, per The Hollywood Reporter. Landon confirms the news with a post on X, writing, “Looks like 7 really is a lucky number.” That same month, the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike halts preproduction on Scream 7. November 21, 2023 Variety reports that Melissa Barrera, who starred as Sam Carpenter in the 2022 Scream and its sequel, Scream VI, has been fired from her leading role in the seventh film after posting support for Palestine and criticism of the Israeli government on social media. Landon weighs in with a now deleted post on X, saying, “This is my statement: Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make.” While Spyglass Media Group, the production company behind Scream 7, initially declines to comment, the company releases a statement to Variety later the same day, pushing back against the idea that Barrera was fired for pro-Palestine posting. The statement notes that Spyglass has “zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion, or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech.” November 22, 2023 One day after news of Barrera’s firing breaks, it’s reported, per Deadline, that Jenna Ortega will not reprise her role as Barrera’s character’s sister, Tara, in Scream 7 either. Scheduling conflicts with Netflix’s Wednesday are cited as the reason behind her departure. Later, Variety reports that Scream 7 will go through a “creative reboot” in the wake of Barrera’s firing and Ortega’s exit. While screenwriters James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick are tasked with working on a new script, the film’s producers put Campbell and Scream 3 actor Patrick Dempsey on their “wish list.” November 29, 2023 The Hollywood Reporter reports that Ortega actually left Scream 7 over a pay dispute. December 23, 2023 It’s revealed that Scream 7 has lost its director, with Landon announcing in a post on X that he dropped out of the film weeks prior. “It was a dream job that turned into a nightmare,” he writes. “And my heart did break for everyone involved. Everyone. But it’s time to move on.” March 12, 2024 Campbell announces via Instagram that she will, in fact, reprise her role as Sidney Prescott in Scream 7, with original Scream writer Kevin Williamson directing and Busick now credited as the sole screenwriter. “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!!!” writes Campbell. July 26, 2024 Campbell tells IndieWire that filming on Scream 7 has been delayed due to scheduling issues with herself and Williamson. August 6, 2024 For Vanity Fair’s September 2024 cover story, Ortega comments on the Scream social media kerfuffle. “Everybody wants to be politically correct, but I feel like, in doing that, we lose a lot of our humanity and integrity, because it lacks honesty,” Ortega says. “I wish that we had a better sense of conversation. Imagine if everyone could say what they felt and not be judged for it and, if anything, it sparked some sort of debate, not an argument.” January 30, 2025 Scream 7 continues to appeal to legacy fans, as Deadline reports that Matthew Lillard and Scott Foley will return for the latest film in the franchise—even though Lillard’s Stu Macher was killed in the first Scream film, while Foley’s Roman Bridger was killed in Scream 3. March 2, 2025 Dempsey says that he won’t return for Scream 7 after all, telling Variety that scheduling conflicts and the California wildfires prevented him from joining. March 4, 2025 Somehow, Deputy Dewey will return too. Per Deadline, David Arquette will reprise his role as Dewey Riley, despite the fact that the character was stabbed to death in 2022’s Scream. April 7, 2025 In an interview with The Cut, Ortega refutes the original claims that she left Scream 7 due to scheduling or a pay dispute. “The Melissa stuff was happening, and it was all kind of falling apart,” she says. “If Scream VII 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.” April 8, 2025 Landon tells Vanity Fair that he had nothing to do with Barrera’s firing, and calls his experience on Scream 7 “very dark and tumultuous.” He explains that Barrera’s sudden absence caused the film to come “tumbling down in an instant” and that he faced harassment and death threats from Scream fans who believed he was the reason for the cast shake-up, though he wasn’t involved in the studio’s decision to let her go. “People were threatening to kill me and my family, to the point where the FBI was getting involved,” Landon says. October 30, 2025 The first trailer for Scream 7 drops, resurrecting fan backlash against the film over Barrera’s firing and Ortega’s departure, per Deadline. December 4, 2025 Skeet Ulrich confirms to the New York Post that he won’t appear in Scream 7. Ulrich explains that he was initially part of a three-film arc, playing the manifestation of Billy Loomis that exists in Barrera’s character’s head. “When all that went down with , obviously you lose her and you lose what’s in her head,” he says. February 5, 2026 Weeks before Scream 7 is scheduled to be released in theaters, the film faces another round of fan ire over its promotional collaboration with prediction-market platform Kalshi—with the franchise’s account posting a video on X about each character’s survival odds, framing the question of who lives or dies through a gambling lens. As one fan bluntly puts it, “This is the worst marketing I’ve ever seen for a movie.” Maybe the eighth Scream film can be about a horror franchise that angers its fan base. February 25, 2026 A group of protesters gather outside the Scream 7 premiere at the Paramount Studios lot in Los Angeles as part of an ongoing boycott of the film, calling for a free Palestine and voicing their support of Barrera. Asked about it on the red carpet, Williamson tells The Hollywood Reporter, “I saw them and my heart just sort of stopped. Look, we live in America. Everyone has a right to protest and everyone should be heard. And if you have your truth and if you want to stand up and be heard, you protest. That is your right in this country, and I stand by it. I support that 100 percent.” Per Deadline, Barrera seemingly responds to the protestors by posting a message on her Instagram Story: “I see you,” she writes, alongside a heart emoji.
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