Warning: This article contains spoilers for Scream 7.The new Scream movie almost did bring back an OG franchise character from the dead.
Scream 7 once again focuses on Neve Campbell’s Sidney Evans née Prescott, whose worst fears come true when a new Ghostface killer emerges and targets her daughter Tatum (Isabel May). Even more terrifying is that Sidney apparently receives video calls from Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard), one of the two masterminds behind Ghostface in the original Scream movie.
It is revealed that Stu is still dead, and his likeness was recreated with AI by the new killers to unnerve Sidney. But director Kevin Williamson revealed in an interview with Esquire that they considered bringing Stu back for real. “I’d be lying if I said we didn’t shoot it both ways,” said Williamson. “We shot a little coda at the end that we had in our back pocket. But oddly enough, the decision was that the audience wanted him dead.”
This was according to the test audience’s response. As far as bringing back multiple past killers through the AI plot point, Williamson said: “We wanted to have our cake and eat it too. […] Guy Busick had that in his script. He wrote all the AI stuff. The first time I read it I was like, ‘How is this going to work? How is he going to be alive?’ Furthermore, if it is AI, will part of the audience be disappointed that he’s not real?”
Sidney and Gale staring at a phone screen with concern in Scream 7
However, the iconic screenwriter recognized that truly bringing Stu back from the dead would be difficult for the audience to buy into. “It makes more sense,” he said. “If he’s alive, that’s a big stretch. We live in a world now where with fake AI, we know that’s possible.” And they still get to have Lillard back, which Esquire commented on: “He brings that wild energy that he had in the first movie.”
Williamson further talked about Lillard’s personality and talent, saying:
He’s the calmest, sweetest, most humble, lovely human being you’ve ever met. Then he just turns it on and becomes the most impulsive of a live wire onscreen. I don’t think he’s been truly tapped to the extent of what he’s capable of. He’s at a wonderful age too. He has history, he has texture. His DNA is in a much more mature place where he can color performances in a beautiful way. He’s very necessary. We need him in more movies.
By Scream 7’s ending, Jessica (Anna Camp), Marco (Ethan Embry), and Karl (Kraig Dane), obsessive fans of Sidney’s story and/or the Stab franchise, are revealed to be the group conspiring to be Ghostface this time around. 1996’s Scream’s twist is so famous partially because it also involves multiple killers: Stu and Sidney’s then-boyfriend Billy (Skeet Ulrich).
However, the consensus is that this new ending, or the movie in general, isn’t great either. Scream 7 is saddled with a 31% Rotten Tomatoes score, as well as being mired in controversy due to former franchise star Melissa Barrera being fired for speaking out in support of Palestine and Jenna Ortega leaving in support of her. It has, however, managed a 71% audience score.
In ScreenRant’s review for Scream 7, Gregory Nussen bluntly states: “Scream 7 is so bad that the franchise might deserve to be killed as brutally as Ghostface does his victims.” Despite it all, Scream 7 has grossed $96.7 million to date, and with a budget of $45 million, it is on track to be another profitable venture for the historic horror franchise.
Scream 7 is now in theaters.
Release Date
February 27, 2026
Runtime
114 Minutes
Director
Kevin Williamson
Writers
Kevin Williamson, Guy Busick, James Vanderbilt
Producers
William Sherak, Paul Neinstein