Scream 7’s New Director Is Bad News For The Long-Awaited Return Of 1 Original Character

Scream 7 is officially moving forward with Neve Campbell returning as Sidney Prescott and Kevin Williamson taking over as director, and the latter’s presence is bad news for the long-awaited (and rumored) return of an original character. Scream is now part of the horror franchises that were revived through the ongoing reboots and sequels trend in the horror genre, and though its return has been a success, it recently faced a lot of controversy. Scream 7 is planned to end the reboot trilogy and the saga as a whole, but it went through a lot of changes that put its future at risk.

After production of Scream 7 was delayed due to the 2023 Hollywood strikes, in November 2023 Melissa Barrera was fired, and the following day, Jenna Ortega was announced to have dropped out of the project due to scheduling conflicts and salary disputes. In December 2023, director Christopher Landon also left, and so the future of Scream 7 became uncertain. However, in March 2024, Neve Campbell revealed she’s coming back in Scream 7 as Sidney Prescott and that Kevin Williamson is directing the film – and his involvement is bad news for the rumored return of an original character.

Kevin Williamson Has Previously Said Stu Macher Is Dead

Kevin Williamson is the creator of the Scream franchise.

Since Scream 2022 was in development, there has been a lot of speculation on which characters from the first four Scream movies could be brought back in the reboot trilogy. The character who has been heavily rumored and theorized to return, despite his on-screen death, is Matthew Lillard’s Stu Macher. Along with his best friend Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), Stu was responsible for the first Woodsboro murders, as well as for the death of Sidney’s mother, Maureen. At the end of Scream, Sidney hit Stu with a vase and dropped a TV on his head, electrocuting him to death – and yet, many have theorized that, somehow, Stu survived.

Scream 2022 brought Billy back in hallucinations that his daughter, Sam (Barrera), has, hinting at her hiding some evil inside of her. Billy’s return further fueled the belief in Stu’s survival and possible return in the Scream reboot trilogy, and Neve Campbell officially joining Scream 7 fed those rumors and theories even more. However, with Kevin Williamson now as the director of Scream 7, Stu’s return is unlikely to happen, as Williamson has already revealed what happened to Stu at the end of Scream.

Williamson is the creator of the Scream franchise and wrote the first two movies, so he knows what happened to every character. Speaking to Collider in 2022, Williamson debunked all theories and rumors about Stu’s survival and said that Stu is dead, and Lillard’s sneaky cameos in other Scream movies are unrelated to Stu. Although Williamson didn’t write the current Scream 7 script, it seems unlikely that he would agree to bring Stu back after confirming his death.

Scream 7 Doesn’t Need To Bring More Legacy Characters Back

Scream 7 risks being overpacked with legacy characters.

Even if Williamson hadn’t already confirmed Stu’s death, Scream 7 doesn’t need more legacy characters back. Aside from the three survivors of the first four Scream movies – Sidney Prescott, Gale Weathers, and Dewey Riley –, in two movies so far, the Scream reboot trilogy has also brought back Martha Meeks (Heather Matarazzo), although briefly, and Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere). There aren’t many characters that Scream 7 could bring back as most were killed by Ghostface killers, but Sidney’s return means that Scream 3’s Mark Kincaid (Patrick Dempsey) can come back as they are now married.

However, Scream 7 is not a reunion movie, but part of a reboot trilogy focused on a new generation of characters, even if half of that new generation is now gone after Barrera and Ortega’s exit. As exciting as Sidney’s return is, Scream 7 has to avoid falling into a nostalgia trap and having too many legacy characters just for old times’ sake, more so as the movie has many loose threads to address now that Sam and Tara (Ortega) are gone.

How Scream 7 Could Still Bring Stu Macher Back In A Believable Way

Stu Macher can’t return in the same way Billy Loomis did.

If the writers of Scream 7 still want to bring Stu Macher back, they have to do so in a believable way, more so after what Williamson said about his fate. How Stu can return in a Scream movie has been the subject of many theories, with the most popular option being that he comes back as a ghost or vision, just like Billy Loomis did. However, this wouldn’t make sense as Sam was the one who had these visions and Stu had no connection to her, and with Sam now gone, it makes even less sense for Stu to show up like Billy used to.

The best way to bring Stu Macher back in Scream 7 might be in a voice cameo, as facing a new Ghostface killer will surely trigger horrible memories in Sidney, and Stu’s voice could give this a more unsettling vibe. It seems unlikely that Kevin Williamson will go against what he said about Stu Macher in Scream 7, but if Stu is to appear in some way, a voice cameo would be the wisest way to do it.