Since the return of Ghostface in Scream 5 and Scream 6, the franchise has not stopped, and Scream 7 should provide news any second. But are these new opuses spilling too much blood? This is the opinion of a key actor from the original film.
Scream 7 seems to be back on track since Neve Campbell rushed to reprise her role after the dismissal of Melissa Barrera and the departure of Jenna Ortega, and that Kevin Williamson, screenwriter of Scream, Scream 2 et Scream 4replaced Christopher Landon as director.
Now that Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who had signed the two previous parts, are no longer involved, will the saga continue on the path they had traced, namely a staging that did not shy away from the violence of the murders committed by Ghostface ? Because if this aspect pleased a certain part of the public, some people thought that the films were now going too far, notably a major actor in the very first Scream.
Scream, a slasher who knows how to slash
In the original Wes Crave film released in 1996, Matthew Lillard played Stu Machernamely one of the two Ghostfaces who shook Woodsboro. Alongside Skeet Ulrich who played the psychopathic Billy Loomis, Lillard saw his character, already badly damaged, finished off by a television falling on his facecrushing and electrocuting him at the same time. A disastrous fate which did not prevent the actor from recently declaring, at the microphone of his co-star Drew Barrymore, on the set of Drew Barrymore Showthat he believed Stu Macher had survived.
If the character has never given any sign of life during the saga since, it is true that the twists and turns of this style are never to be ruled out in legacyquels who would go through all the contortions to bring back cult characters. Lillard notably put forward this theory by admitting that he would love to return in the next Scream. While waiting to know if his appeal will be heard by the producers, Lillard continued to make comments on the franchise, notably to the site GamesRadar+. The actor particularly highlighted the direction taken by the sixth film, which went too far, according to him :
“I think the film went too far with the violence. Especially in 6… I don't think Ghostface needs to use a shotgun. I think that in many ways, these films try to redo what we had in the first film, like the final psychopath monologue, which is very hard to do. I hope Kevin [Williamson] will take Scream in a new, daring and exciting direction so that we can find new colors and new pleasures”.
The interpreter of Stu therefore seems above all to blame Scream 6 the use of weapons that do not fit the definition of a slasher, the horror subgenre to which the saga belongs and in which the masked killer is supposed to kill with a knife. But the actor also wants the franchise to stop repeating itself, and succeed in renewing itself by trying new things, too. his statement, both nostalgic and eager for change, is a little contradictory.
Kevin Williamson, also being one of the historical pillars of the saga, will he share Lillard's opinion, and will he propose in his Scream 7 less brutal violence and closer to the initial film? Knowing that everything depends on what we really call “violence”, since neither Scream 5 in Scream 6 only went as far in gore as the first film, which still showed Drew Barrymore hanging from a tree with her own guts. Verdict on February 25, 2026, date on which Scream 7 should be released in French cinemas.
