Posted in: Horror, Movies | Tagged: Matthew Lillard, scream 7

Scream 7 Brought Back Matthew Lillard Too, So What's Going On?

Now that we know Matthew Lillard is returning to the Scream franchise in part 7, what exactly is going on with the story?

Scream 7 shocked the horror world yesterday. After first announcing that Scott Foley would be returning for the sequel after being revealed as Ghostface in Scream 3 and dying, they waited until late in the evening yesterday to let Deadline announce that Matthew Lillard, Stu Macher himself, is also returning. He also died at the end of the first one after being revealed to have been a Ghostface himself. They join Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Anna Camp, Isabel May, Celeste O'Connor, Asa Germann, Mckenna Grace, Mason Gooding, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Joel McHale, Mark Consuelos, and Sam Rechner. The film will be directed by Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original 1996 film from a script by Gary Busick.

Scream 7 Story Still Under Wraps

After the success of the sixth film in the franchise, the announcement of a seventh installment felt like a foregone conclusion. It took a long while to get that announcement, however. That was the first sign that Spyglass and Paramount may have a problem on their hands. After a six-month wait, we learned that Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day) would take over the director's chair for part seven, replacing Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, who helmed the last two films to critical acclaim and box office success. While staying on as producers, it was curious why they allowed Universal to poach them for another horror project when they had spent two movies setting up a new Scream universe for a new generation.

Then, last November 2023 happened. After a round of social media posts deemed controversial, new franchise star Melissa Barrera was fired from Scream 7. A day later, we learned that Jenna Ortega, the other new star of the franchise and one of Hollywood's biggest young names, would also not be returning due to scheduling conflicts. Many still think it was in solidarity with Barrera, though the studios say that her exit was known for a while behind closed doors. Finally, two days ago, Landon announced on social media that he had left the project weeks ago. It's not hard to put the pieces together there; it was probably after the two franchise leads were gone. He now has Drop coming this spring instead.

So, what do we think is happening here? This is probably some kind of flashback or hallucination. Another Ghostface/dead person has also come back in the last two films, as it was revealed Skeet Ulrich's character Billy Loomis was the late father of Melissa Barrera's character, and she was having visions of him. I would think that this is what is going on here and that Stu and Roman are indeed still dead. It's really awesome that they are bringing back Lillard, though. He has been campaigning for it for literally decades at this point, and fans will be happy to see him.

Scream 7 hits theaters in February 2026.

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