When Kevin Williamson’s Scream 7 hit theaters earlier this year, it should have been cause for fans to celebrate. It was, after all, the original writer of the 1996 film returning to the franchise he served such an integral role in creating after several years away and bringing a litany of key players from that original film, such as Neve Campbell and Matthew Lillard, back into the fold just in time for the thirtieth anniversary of the long-running franchise. Sounds like an obscenely easy lay-up of a victory lap, right? Well, not exactly.
See, Scream 7 was never intended to be this kind of “get the gang back together” legacy sequel anniversary celebration. It was originally just going to further pursue the trajectory that the most recent films, 2022’s Scream and 2023’s Scream VI had been on, with stars like Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera. Instead, though things went wrong in a ton of ways, resulting in the film audiences actually got, which was met with widespread criticism and even outright disdain. In a recent interview, Matthew Lillard has even officially gone on the record to apologize for his involvement in the film.
So what exactly happened to that initial take on Scream 7? Well, it was set to be written and directed by Christopher Landon (of Happy Death Day, Freaky, and Drop fame) and was moving ahead as planned right up until Spyglass Entertainment higher-ups decided that some of Barrera’s comments relating to the genocide in Palestine were inappropriate and unceremoniously firing her from the project. In solidarity with Barrera, many others jumped ship on the sequel, including Ortega and Landon himself.
In response, those same Spyglass Entertainment execs decided to simply bring back series originator Kevin Williamson and (assumedly) pay him a dump truck full of money to turn things around as quickly as possible, rushing through the writing process, calling in old favors with original cast members, and rushing as ungracefully into production as possible. The results speak for themselves: Scream 7 is far and away the worst Scream film to date and is widely regarded as such by fans and critics alike.
Notably, the film brought back Lillard as Stu Macher, one of the killers from the original film… sort of. Lillard returns as an in-narrative AI-generated version of Macher, who the real killers of Scream 7 are using to haunt returning characters like Neve Campbell’s Sidney. This was an inexplicable narrative choice that served to deflate any kind of resonance behind Lillard’s return and also spoil the actor’s own decades-in-the-making attempts to make a comeback in the franchise.
Now, as he does press for Carrie, Lillard is clarifying that he actually regrets taking on Scream 7 and feels extremely remorseful about what happened with Barrera. He spoke candidly about feeling as if he was on the wrong side of history at this moment, saying, “I blew that,” and clarifying that he remains “ashamed” and “embarrassed” of his part in the film.
Lillard is historically a pretty awesome dude, it would seem, standing up for downtrodden individuals time and again in ways that really count. He seems to have not been fully aware of the politically charged context of his Scream return initially, instead simply being overjoyed to make his return. However, in the time since the film’s release, he’s clearly gained a clearer perspective on things and is now unafraid to speak out about it and apologize. I think that’s neat. But also, if anyone should be apologizing, it should definitely be Kevin Williamson, because what was all that, man?
Add us as a preferred source on Google