Scream 7: Matthew Lillard would love to come back as Stu Macher

Spyglass Media and Paramount Pictures once intended to make a Scream 7 that would have starred Scream (2022) and Scream VI leads Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, with Freaky and Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon at the helm. But then Ortega allegedly asked for a substantial pay raise – and as we saw when Neve Campbell dropped out of Scream VI due to a pay dispute, these pay issues don’t tend to work out. Then Barrera was fired from the project after comments she made about the Israel-Hamas war didn’t go over well with executives at Spyglass. Landon dropped out the of the project soon after. So Scream 7 has been re-developed, Campbell has signed on to return as franchise heroine Sidney Prescott, back in the lead role – and her Scream (1996) co-star Matthew Lillard has confirmed that if he were asked to reprise the role of killer Stu Macher, he would gladly return.

Lillard expressed his interest in a Scream return while chatting with another Scream co-star on The Drew Barrymore Show. After shooting down the theory that Barrymore’s character could have somehow survived what happened to her in the film, he said (with thanks to Coming Soon for the transcription), “Stu is definitely alive.” When asked if he would come back to play Stu in a sequel, he answered, “That would be fun. I would love it. If it made sense, if it made sense for the franchise. If Kevin [Williamson] liked it, then sure.“

Kevin Williamson, who wrote the screenplay for the original Scream, is set to direct this new sequel. In addition to writing the original Scream, Williamson has also written I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2, The Faculty, and Halloween H20 (where his script contributions were uncredited). He wrote the initial drafts of Scream 3 and Scream 4, then those both received some major rewrites. For Scream 7, he’ll be working from a screenplay by 2022’s Scream and Scream VI writer Guy Busick, who crafted the story with his co-writer on the fifth and sixth films, James Vanderbilt. (Vanderbilt is also a producer on the most recent sequels.) Williamson made his directing debut with the 1999 thriller Teaching Mrs. Tingle. Twenty-five years later, Scream 7 will be his second directing credit.

Williamson has previously dismissed the idea that Stu could return by simply saying, “No, he’s dead.“

So far, Neve Campbell is the only confirmed Scream 7 cast member. Courteney Cox has been in talks to reprise the role of reporter / author Gale Weathers since March, but she recently revealed that she hasn’t signed on yet. There have been rumors that Patrick Dempsey was being pursued to reprise his Scream 3 role of Detective Mark Kincaid, but that hasn’t been confirmed.

Scream 7 is set to reach theatres on February 27, 2026. Would you like to see Matthew Lillard return as Stu Macher in the film? Let us know by leaving a comment below.