Matthew Lillard still likes scary movies. The actor, who starred in Wes Craven’s original “Scream” and did not return for future entries considering, well, narrative events, is joining the cast of the franchise’s upcoming seventh installment.
Following the exit of both Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega from the “Scream” franchise after the pair led a duo of series revivals, Spyglass Media has fashioned “Scream 7” into a throwback title, with returning cast members including original stars Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox. Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original “Scream,” will direct this coming installment. Paramount has set a Feb. 26, 2026 release date.
Lillard’s homecoming comes as a bit of a surprise. His character, the stonerish teen Stu Macher, was revealed to be one of two killers in the first “Scream” — a twist that was swiftly followed by Macher being electrocuted to death, his head thrust into a hefty television. However, an actor returning from the dead isn’t an unprecedented occurrence for the “Scream” franchise. Skeet Ulrich, who starred in “Scream” as Billy Loomis, the killer in cahoots with Lillard’s Stu, reprised that role in the 2022 “Scream” revival, appearing in a character’s hallucinatory visions.
After the success of the 2022 “Scream” revival, producers were quick to turnaround “Scream VI,” which released just 15 months later. “Scream 7” has faced a more difficult development process. Barrera, who starred in the fifth and sixth entries, was fired by Spyglass Media in November 2023 after directing social media followers to donate money to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East amid the Israel-Hamas War. The production banner took issue with Barrera stating that Israel was committing “genocide and ethnic cleansing” and her accusation that Israel was distorting “the Holocaust to boost the Israeli arms industry.”
Ortega exited “Scream 7” shortly thereafter, with reports citing scheduling conflicts.
Deadline was first to report on Lillard’s casting.
