Scream 7 Could Make The Most Hated Movie In The Series Even Worse

2026 marks a major milestone for the Scream franchise, with Scream 7 debuting 30 years after Wes Craven’s original. Kevin Williamson has been with the series from the start, and after serving as a writer or producer on all previous entries, he’s finally being promoted to director this time around. It’s fair to say that Scream 7 has faced a few bumps in the road, but as things finally get underway, a bumper cast of new and familiar faces are ready to take on another Ghostface(s).

While former leading lady Neve Campbell had a public fallout with Paramount over her pay packet and ended up sitting out 2023’s Scream 6, she’s back in action as Sidney Prescott and is set to bring the franchise back to its roots. Courteney Cox is also confirmed to reprise her role as the iconic Gale Weathers, while former Scream alumni including Mason Gooding, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and (of course) Roger L. Jackson are back. While Sidney is destined to be haunted by the ghosts of her past, one major casting harks back to the most controversial Scream movie ever made.

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Scream 7 Brings Back Scream 3’s Ghostface

The castings don’t stop coming, and just hours before Scream legend Matthew Lillard was confirmed to reprise his role as OG Ghostface Stu Macher, Scream 3’s Scott Foley was also added to Scream 7’s cast list. Due to the popularity of Lillard and various theories that Macher is somehow still alive, his casting largely overshadowed Foley’s return as Roman Bridger. Craven divisively left Woodsboro and took the story to Hollywood for 2000’s Scream 3, but that wasn’t the only controversy the movie faced.

Whereas all the movies before and since have included multiple Ghostfaces, Scream 3 included the singular twist where Roman was the only killer. The big reveal explained how Roman was Sidney’s illegitimate half-brother who’d been driven mad when he found out his mother had a happy life in Woodsboro. Although Roman had carved himself a semi-successful career as a director in Hollywood, his production of Stab 3: Return To Woodsboro was all a ruse to take out his hatred on Sidney. The convoluted plot involved Sidney’s mother being raped by John Milton (Lance Henriksen) and awkwardly shoehorned Roman into 1996’s Scream by making him the architect of Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) and Stu’s scheming.

The addition of Lillard suggests that Foley will appear in a flashback – presumably featuring Roman meeting with Billy and Stu to kickstart the original killings. Another option is sure to be even more controversial and could see Sidney literally being haunted by ghosts. Scream 3 took some flak as it veered into the supernatural and Sidney saw the ghostly visage of her dead mother. This became even more hated when Sam (Melissa Barrera) was haunted by her father, Billy Loomis, with both Scream (2022) and Scream 6 using some doggy CGI on a de-aged Skeet Ulrich. Many had assumed that with Barrera having left Scream 7, poor de-aging to bring back ghosts would’ve been a thing of the past.

As for who Scream 7’s Ghostface is, Scream 3 could be worth a rewatch. Like Richie (Jack Quaid) echoing Billy’s Ghostface as the MVP’s boyfriend, Scream 6 then had a vengeful parent (Dermot Mulroney’s Wayne Bailey) out for blood like Debbie Loomis (Laurie Metcalf) in Scream 2. Despite not getting to know much about Roman, it seems unlikely that Scream 7 has another secret sibling out there for Sidney. Roman suggested he and Sid are Maureen Prescott’s only kids when he told the franchise hero:

”She had a new life and a new name! Maureen Prescott! You were the only child she claimed Sidney! She shut me out in the cold forever! Her own son… Roman Bridger, director. And brother.”

The most popular theory at the moment is that Joel McHale’s Mark Evans could be an obvious Ghostface. Either that, or Mark could be a grisly opening kill that lures Sidney back from her happy ending and into the latest copycat killing spree. Still, none of this really explains what Foley is doing here.

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What Went Wrong With Scream 3?

While there are plenty of Scream 4 haters out there, there’s a reason that Scream 3 is the lowest-rated entry and is the only ‘rotten’ outing on Rotten Tomatoes. There’s a general consensus that Roman is the weakest Ghostface killer, with the general plot of Scream 3 being seen as a letdown. Scream 3 was the first not to feature Williamson as a writer, and although he served as a producer, harking back to the maligned threequel in Scream 7 could be his way of trying to redeem it.

Of course, a lot of Scream 3’s issues were out of Craven’s hands. The Columbine High School massacre led to hysteria in the Hollywood and meant that Scream 3 had to massively cut back on its violence. More than this, it nixed the original plan to bring Lillard back as Stu. Speaking in 2009, Lillard confirmed he was supposed to reprise his role as Stu Macher, and having survived having a TV dropped on his head in Scream, he’d be puppeteering a cult of young Ghostfaces from behind bars. Even when writer Ehren Kruger settled on the Roman idea, there was nearly another reveal that Angelina Tyler (Emily Mortimer) was going to be a second Ghostface. This would’ve made sense, making ‘Angie’ a former classmate of Sidney who idolized her and went on to star as her in the new Stab.

The Roman reveal is especially panned because the character barely had any screen time before he was exposed as a cliché Ghostface in the final act. Following standout performances from Lillard and Ulrich in the original Scream (especially Lillard), Scream 3 wasn’t the trilogy-topping blockbuster it could’ve been. It’s easy to argue that Metcalf’s Debbie Loomis had even less screen time, but with the actor nailing what little action she had, AND Scream 2 putting its own spin on Friday the 13th’s big Pamela Voorhees reveal, it somehow cemented her as one of the best Ghostfaces.

That isn’t to say that the newer movies are trying to erase Scream 3, as there have been several nods to Roman since. Scream 4’s cinema club included Stab 3: Hollywood Horror which immortalized the events of Scream 3, while Roman’s mask and voice changer appeared in Scream VI. Williamson can take Foley’s return in several ways, and if he’s smart, he can lean into the fan theories. Following 1996’s Scream, there was a theory that the Ghostface stalking Sidney outside her home was secretly Roman. An alternate ending of Scream 2 also featured a third killer watching Sidney from the Windsor College rooftop, with fans theorizing it could’ve been Roman. Then again, it’s not considered canon. Whatever Williamson has planned for Scream 7, Foley’s part is hopefully something a little more substantial than a de-aged Roman telling Billy and Stu to slice and dice Sidney.

Scream 7

Release Date

February 27, 2026

Director

Kevin Williamson

Writers

Kevin Williamson, Guy Busick, James Vanderbilt

Producers

Cathy Konrad, Gary Barber, Marianne Maddalena, Peter Oillataguerre, William Sherak, Chad Villella, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Ron Lynch

Cast

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  Neve Campbell

  Sidney Prescott

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  Courteney Cox

  Gale Weathers

• 

  Mason Gooding

  Chad Meeks-Martin

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