Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega helped to usher in the Scream franchise for a new generation of audiences. While Scream V brought back the legacy characters from the 1996 original, Barrera and Ortega were able to take the baton and run with it, especially when Neve Campbell would not return for Scream VI. After the two previous films revitalized the franchise, Spyglass Media would obviously put in motion plans for another. However, nearly every notable name would encounter trouble with the planned sequel. Barrera, in particular, would be let go from the film after the actress made a social media post addressing the Israel-Hamas conflict, which the studio deemed to be anti-Semitic.
Barrera harbors no ill feelings toward the franchise, however. The actress would speak with Deadline at Sundance about her connection with the cast and how grateful she is for those films. Barrera remarked, “I’m just so grateful on what I got to infuse in the franchise, and that’s something I’ll be proud of forever.” Barrera reunited with the cast of the Scream films at Sundance and the group had taken a photo together. She stated, “We’re family for life. If we’re ever in the vicinity of each other, we always find each other and that’s what happened at that event. When we find each other, we just want to spend the night with each other, and nothing is ever going to change that.” The group photo would include Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Liana Liberato, Tony Revolori, Jack Quaid and Skeet Ulrich.
Since the news of Barrera’s firing, Scream VII continued to have a run of bad luck when Ortega would also pull out of the film due to scheduling conflicts. It was reported that the studio is trying to woo Neve Campbell back when the OG final girl sat out the last one due to pay disputes. However, there hasn’t been any reported traction on that front. The big blow would come when the formerly attached director, Christopher Landon, would leave the project, saying his experience on the production was “a dream that turned into a nightmare.”
Meanwhile, Barrera would showcase her new film at Sundance, titled Your Monster. According to Deadline, “In the pic, Barrera plays a soft-spoken actress, who finds her voice again after she meets a terrifying, yet weirdly charming Monster living in her closet.”