For characters in the Scream movies, it’s wise never to answer the phone — lest Ghostface be on the other end of the line. But after a tumultuous few months for the franchise, Scream studio Spyglass is likely hoping its calls will indeed go answered as it attempts to keep its next installment from getting the ax amid a major casting shakeup and subsequent creative pivot.
On Nov. 21, it broke that Spyglass had fired Melissa Barrera from the upcoming seventh Scream movie over social media posts that company decision-makers characterized as antisemitic. Sources note the firing actually came a month earlier, in the early weeks of the Israel-Hamas war, when Barrera had become increasingly vocal. Before her firing, sources say her deal to return as Sam Carpenter, the lead character she introduced in 2022’s Scream, had been finalized.
On Nov. 22 came the news that Barrera’s onscreen sister, Jenna Ortega, had quietly exited the franchise months earlier. Scheduling issues were cited, but sources say Ortega — who has skyrocketed from child star to supporting player in last year’s Scream to the A-list thanks to her turn in the Netflix series Wednesday — asked for a bigger payday for the seventh installment, commensurate with her status. Unlike Barrera, sources say Ortega had no deal in place.
Ortega had been paid in the six figures for her previous installments, but her team now wants projects with significant paydays, something that the Scream franchise is not known for. Sources say she was seeking high seven figures and anticipated that Spyglass would balk.
Spyglass head Gary Barber is known for his shrewd business sense or for being cheap, depending on what side of the table you are on, multiple sources say. The studio had already lost Scream stalwart Neve Campbell over a salary dispute for this year’s Scream VI, with the actress saying at the time that she “couldn’t walk on set feeling undervalued.” Many predicted that film would fail without its original star, but it ended up being the biggest movie in the franchise since the 1996 original. Barber’s apparent takeaway is that neither stars nor large salaries are essential. “He didn’t need Neve, he doesn’t need Jenna,” says one insider.
Scream VII was to have been the end of a rumored trilogy focused on the two Carpenter sisters. Even after Ortega departed, it wasn’t much of a pivot to refocus on Barrera’s more prominent character. But with both actors gone, restitching from whole cloth seems necessary.
While some insiders say the situation is a “shambles” and “very raw,” it may not be as dire as it might seem. Scream has always had interchangeable villains behind the mask, ensemble casts and certain legacy characters. Another reboot will not fatally stab the franchise.
Christopher Landon remains on board as director, as does James Vanderbilt, who co-wrote the two previous installments.
This story first appeared in the Nov. 29 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe
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