SCREAM Reboot Star Melissa Barrera Not Returning For SCREAM 7 After Controversial Social Media Posts
It looks like Scream and Scream VI star Melissa Barrera may not be returning to the franchise for Scream 7. The news comes from THR, who explains that she was dropped from the franchise after she posted a series of social media posts in the wake of the Israel-Hamas War.
In a post on Instagram, she said: “Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp. Cornering everyone together, with no where to go, no electricity no water … People have learnt nothing from our histories. And just like our histories, people are still silently watching it all happen. THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING.”
Production has not started on Scream VII, and according to the report, the creative team “is expected to recalibrate plans following Barrera.”
The movie is being helmed by Christopher Landon, who previously directed films such as Happy Death Day and Freaky. When talking about joining the project, he said: "It came out of the blue for me. My understanding is that there were conversations happening for some time. But I think it was just an opportunity that really arose because the other directors who did the last two films, Tyler and Matt, they wanted to do something else. They were ready to kind of do something different. That's when they obviously had to find someone new, and I've known Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original film, for a long, long time and he's a friend. I think he threw my name into the hat and everybody kind of said, 'Yeah, that makes sense. That seems to make sense.' And I was just thrilled that I got that call because it felt very, it felt like kismet, it felt like a thing that like was always meant to be."
There’s no information on who is writing Scream VII, but the last two films were written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. Landon is also a screenwriter, so I’m sure he’ll at least be co-writing it.
We can still expect to see Jenna Ortega, Mason Gooding, and Jasmin Savoy Brown return to the film. It would also be cool to see Hayden Panettiere back in action as well.
Melissa Barrera’s Sam Carpenter has been the leading member of the franchise revival, but things are obviously going to change. Her character’s story arc was actually headed in an interesting direction as the daughter of Billy Loomis, but we may never see where that journey takes her.