Summary
- Stu Macher is an iconic horror villain who set the standard for Ghostface.
- Bringing Stu back in Scream 7 may be risky due to storyline and motive challenges.
- Fans expect a unique killer motivation in Scream 7 to avoid repeating past Ghostface motives.
As far as horror villains go, Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard) is a complete original. He makes silly jokes throughout the movie and while he’s undeniably violent, he shocks audiences by acting afraid during his big confrontation with final girl Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) at the end of 1996’s Scream. Stu set the standard for all other Ghostfaces, and there’s no doubt that he’s one of the greatest.
With Lillard returning to Scream 7 as Stu Macher, fans hope the slasher sequel will take creative risks. While it’s impossible to know how Stu can really come back since he seemed to die in the 1996 film, there is one plotline that wouldn’t work well.
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Scream 7 Shouldn’t Use This Stu Macher Storyline Or It Could Be Disappointing
According to PEOPLE, Matthew Lillard was on a panel with other Scream cast members at 90s Con in late March 2025 and he said:
“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.”
He continued:
“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.”
While fans will be glad to see Lillard return as Stu Macher in Scream 7, and his mysterious presence is creating hype and anticipation, it would be a shame if Stu were revealed as one of the Ghostface killers. For one thing, Sidney Prescott kills Stu with a TV set, and it doesn’t make sense for Stu to be alive today. But there is an even more important reason why Stu shouldn’t be Ghostface again: he wouldn’t have a unique or interesting enough motive. It would also be hard to believe that Stu was stalking Sidney all this time.
The most crucial parts of every Scream movie are the opening sequence and the big killer reveal. They both have to be intriguing and memorable. Fans expect the Scream 7 killer or killers to have a brand new motivation that previous villains wearing the black and white mask didn’t have. For example, fans criticized the Ghostfaces in Scream (2022) for being motivated by fame, which was the same motive that Jill Roberts (Emma Roberts) had in Scream 4. Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) wanted to get revenge on Sidney in Scream, and if Stu were Ghostface in Scream 7, he would also be motivated by getting even. That isn’t exciting enough.
Bringing back any legacy character is tricky, and when characters like Stu and Roman Bridger (Scott Foley) have been dead for a while, it becomes even more challenging. But fans have high expectations for Stu’s return, and it has to be perfect. It might make the most sense to show a video message Stu once recorded for Sidney. Maybe Stu and Billy had a master plan that they never finished and Sidney learns more about them through this video. Since she has a teenage daughter now, it would be logical for Sidney to reflect on her high school years and to think about fighting back against Stu and Billy.
What Other Horror Movies Has Matthew Lillard Starred In?
Besides playing Stu Macher in Scream 7, Matthew Lillard also played Steve Raglan in Five Nights at Freddy’s. He also played a screenwriter turned teacher named Joel Brandt in 2008’s Messages Deleted and psychic Dennis Rakfin in Thirteen Ghosts, which was released in 2001. Those two definitely qualify as forgotten 2000s horror movies, but it’s always fun to see the talented and hilarious Lillard in a film.
Lillard’s Five Nights at Freddy’s role is as exciting and surprising as his turn in Scream, and fans are glad that Lillard is coming back for Five Nights at Freddy’s 2. In an interview with IGN, Lillard talked about the 2023 horror movie’s ending and compared it to the epic scene with Stu and Billy Loomis at the end of 1996’s Scream. He said:
“it’s the first time I’ve chewed scenery since Scream—Well, not the first time, but you know. It definitely has that same vibe in terms of the energy level at the end. Which is crazy, right?”
Lillard also mentioned that his character has “a really high level of energy” in that scene. While fans are unsure about how the actor will appear again in Scream 7, there’s no doubt that Lillard will do an impressive job.
- Release Date
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February 27, 2026
- Director
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Kevin Williamson
- Writers
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Kevin Williamson, Guy Busick, James Vanderbilt
- Producers
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Cathy Konrad, Gary Barber, Marianne Maddalena, Peter Oillataguerre, William Sherak, Chad Villella, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Ron Lynch
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Neve Campbell
Sidney Prescott
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Courteney Cox
Gale Weathers
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Mason Gooding
Chad Meeks-Martin
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Jasmin Savoy Brown
Mindy Meeks-Martin
More
I Think Scream 7 Should Pull Off A Wild Ghostface Trick That Has Never Been Done Before
Scream 7 will have familiar elements from the slasher franchise like final girl Sidney Prescott, but I’d like to see a different Ghostface reveal.