‘Scream VII’ appears to have been thrown into chaos this week with the departure of both of its lead actresses.
Yesterday it was reported that Melissa Barrera had been dropped from the upcoming film due to her social media comments on the Israel-Hamas war and later in the day, rumours circulated that Jenna Ortega too would not be part of the new film due to scheduling conflicts. This creates a huge conundrum for new director Christopher Landon and writers James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick given that Barrera and Ortega played sisters Sam and Tara Carpenter, who the reboot was built around.
Reports now suggest that the film-makers may need to do a creative reboot with the focus switched back to legacy characters and according to Variety, Neve Campbell and Patrick Dempsey are top of their wish list. Campbell stepped away from the franchise after 2022’s ‘Scream’ following a pay dispute for ‘Scream VI’ and Dempsey has only made one appearance in the franchise as Mark Kincaid in ‘Scream 3’, who was confirmed to be Sidney’s partner and father of her children in ‘Scream’ (2022).
What should the film-makers do?
There’s a growing backlash on social media following the dismissal of Barrera but that will inevitably die down. Let’s remember that a portion of the fan base said they wouldn’t watch any ‘Scream’ film without Neve Campbell, yet ‘Scream VI’ achieved the highest opening of the franchise. Personally, I wouldn’t put too much stock in the fan backlash affecting the film’s performance especially given that we’re probably around two years away from a new film arriving.
Switching back to the legacy characters would be a smart move. If Campbell came back as Sidney and Dempsey as Mark, there’s also Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere) and at a stretch Joel (Duane Martin), Gale’s camera man from ‘Scream 2’. Let’s not forget there’s also Chad (Mason Gooding) and Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) Meeks-Martin, their mother (and Randy”s sister) Martha (Heather Matarazzo), Danny (Josh Segarra) and the actors from the various ‘Stab’ films, so it’s not like there isn’t a rich vault of characters to pull from.
Can ‘Scream’ survive without the Carpenter sisters?
Of course it can. The franchise was built on Sidney, Dewey (David Arquette) and Gale, with the Carpenter sisters only appearing in two films. It’ll be a shame not to see the characters’ arcs come to a proper conclusion but I wouldn’t rule out both actresses returning somewhere down the line if the the franchise continues beyond ‘Scream VII’. And before anyone shouts me down now, time often changes everything and they wouldn’t be the first actors that depart a franchise only to rejoin it later down the line.
Will Stu Macher finally be brought back?
This has been a wish of hardcore ‘Scream’ fans for years but honestly, as much as I love Matthew Lillard as Stu, I’d find it very hard to believe he survived the events of the first film. At this point, bringing back Stu would look like a desperate attempt to please the fans and that’s never a particularly good reason to make a creative decision. Easter eggs are welcome, bringing characters back from the dead that clearly died in the films, not so much.
Maybe ‘Scream 7’ should be canned… for now?
Controversial thought but maybe the ‘Scream’ franchise needs to rest for a while. While ‘Scream’ (2022) was a fantastic film, ‘Scream VI’ wasn’t without its problems. I loved it for the set-pieces but didn’t love the ending or the fact that pretty much everyone survived. Maybe the creative team needs to go completely back to the drawing board and really think about what a seventh instalment could look like. They have a blank slate now and they need to wait for the furore to die down. Food for thought.
