Matthew Lillard Is “Slightly Terrified” to Return to SCREAM 7: “Hope I Don’t F It Up”
Matthew Lillard has made a career out of playing characters who flirt with chaos, but stepping back into the Scream franchise has the actor feeling something very un-Stu Macher… fear.
During a recent panel at 90s Con in Hartford, Connecticut, Lillard reunited with Scream alumni David Arquette, Jamie Kennedy, Skeet Ulrich, and Dermot Mulroney.
While the cast was clearly having fun with fans and each other, there was a moment where Lillard opened up about the pressure of returning to a franchise that helped define his career.
“I will say, I can’t say anything about it, obviously. But I am very excited and slightly terrified to be back because all I can do is really screw up a legacy that we have,” Lillard said during the panel.
He added: “I could really suck, and so that’s my fear. My fear is that I come back and sort of punish something that I could never have touched and been just fine. I hope I don’t F it up for everyone.”
It’s been nearly 30 years since Lillard’s scene-stealing performance as Stu Macher in Wes Craven’s 1996 Scream, which is a role that saw him and Ulrich’s Billy Loomis orchestrate a blood-soaked high school massacre in Woodsboro. Stu was last seen getting a TV dropped on his face, but as any horror fan knows… death may not actually be death.
Lillard’s return will see him join legacy stars Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox, along with David Arquette, and Scott Foley.
The new cast members of the film include Joel McHale as Sidney’s husband, Isabel May, Mason Gooding, Mckenna Grace, Celeste O’Connor and Asa Germann. Scream 7 is scheduled for release on February 27, 2026.
As for how Stu and some of these other dead characters show up again? We’ll just have to wait and see. Regardless, I don’t think Lillard is going to F anything up. I’ve been waiting for his return to the franchise!
It’s said that the next chapter of Scream will involve a "big time jump" following the events of the last movie. This is so that Sidney's children have grown to an appropriate slasher movie age.
It was also previously reported that Scream 7 "will have two main storylines, one about Sid and her friends from the neighborhood, and the second one about Sid's teen daughter Taylor (could be a codename) and her friends. Each of them will have to deal with Ghostface."
Sid and Gale will reportedly find themselves facing off with some kind of Ghostface cult.
Via: Deadline