Scream 7 started filming at the start of January, aiming for a February 27, 2026 release date, and we’ve seen some surprising reports about the slasher sequel as it has made its way through production – with the most surprising and strange news being that Matthew Lillard and Scott Foley, who played Ghostface killers who were killed off in Scream (1996) and Scream 3, respectively, and David Arquette, whose beloved character Dewey lost his life in Scream (2022), are all in the cast. But there’s one person on the Scream franchise body count that has been hoping to come back for Scream 7 and hasn’t been contacted yet: Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played ill-fated college student Cici Cooper in Scream 2.
Gellar told Entertainment Tonight (with thanks to Coming Soon for the transcription), “I’m not in [Scream 7]. I tried to get in [Scream 7], nobody wanted me. They were bringing everybody back. I kept thinking I would get a call, I didn’t get a call. There’s a lot of people that died in all the Scream movies that are back. Skeet [Ulrich], [Matthew] Lillard. I’m just saying, I’m waiting for my call.” As she mentioned, the original Scream‘s Skeet Ulrich was another dead Ghostface killer who returned in the recent films, as his character appeared in hallucinations throughout Scream (2022) and Scream VI.
Gellar was asked to appear in the new I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel that will be reaching theatres on July 18th, but she turned that one down because her character was killed off in the original movie – and apparently she doesn’t think dead people should come back in I Know What You Did Last Summer sequels the way they’ve been coming back in Scream sequels. Her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr., does have a role in that sequel, but she still had the chance to watch it before he did.
Spyglass and Paramount 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, while Kevin Williamson, who wrote the screenplay for the original Scream, directs the film 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.)
Neve Campbell is joined in the cast by Isabel May of the Yellowstone prequel 1883, who has signed on to play Sidney’s daughter; Mckenna Grace of the Ghostbusters franchise, Grace’s Ghostbusters co-star Celeste O’Connor, Gen V‘s Asa Germann, The Fabelmans‘ Sam Rechner, Pitch Perfect‘s Anna Camp, fellow franchise star Courteney Cox, who reprises the role of reporter / author Gale Weathers, Joel McHale (Community) as Sidney’s husband Mark Evans, Ethan Embry (The Devil’s Candy), Michelle Randolph (Landman), Jimmy Tatro (American Vandal), and Mark Consuelos (Riverdale). Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown are back as Chad Meeks-Martin and Mindy Meeks-Martin from Scream (2022) and Scream VI. And, as mentioned, there are multiple deceased characters in the cast as well.
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