In 2022, the Scream movie series came back from the dead to rave reviews and a gross of $140 million off just a $24 million budget. A year later, it repeated the trick, with Scream 6 also scoring high reviews while making $160 million off a $35 million budget. Then, as Jenna Ortega has said recently, “it all kind of fell apart”.
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Melissa Barrera, the star of the reboot as Sam Carpenter, was suddenly fired from the series for what were deemed antisemitic comments (Barrera has always held that her pro-Palestine views are not anti-Jewish). Shortly after, co-star and on-screen sister Jenna Ortega left, as did director Christopher Landon. There was much speculation at the time as to whether Ortega left in solidarity with Barrera or whether the timing was a coincidence, and now we have our answer – the timing was in fact not a coincidence.
Jenna Ortega Didn’t Quit Scream Over Money Or Scheduling
“It had nothing to do with pay or scheduling,” Ortega said in an interview with The Cut. “The Melissa stuff was happening, and it was all kind of falling apart. If Scream 7 wasn’t going to be with that team of directors and those people I fell in love with, then it didn’t seem like the right move for me in my career at the time.”
It seems like an open and shut case. Ortega’s career has gone from strength to stregth since then, with the new season of Wednesday on the horizon, Death of a Unicorn in cinemas now, and a well-recieved role in another horror reboot as Astrid Deetz, daughter of Lydia, in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice hitting screens last year. She also confirmed to The Cut she is writing her own script, and has aspirations to direct.
Barrera has continued mostly unabated too. She led Abigail last year, directed by Scream 5 & 6 duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and there are rumours of her joining the returning Samara Weaving and her Abigail co-star Kathryn Newton in Ready or Not 2, also directed by Bettinelli-Olpun and Gillett.
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The same cannot be said for Scream 7. With two key characters leaving, there are notable holes in the plot – rumours are abound of the entire reboot being retconned as a book or movie within a movie, which wouldn’t make much sense. But with David Arquette returning despite graphically dying on screen, that rumour has gained legs. If that’s true, we don’t know what it means for the other half of the core four, Chad and Mindy Meeks-Martin, played by Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown.
Without Sam and Tara, the wind has been taken out of Scream’s sails, and with Ortega coming out in support of Barrera here, it doesn’t seem as though many fans will have sympathy with the studio’s decision to cut Barrera from the team. Nevertheless, Scream 7 is due out next year.