Matthew Lillard says he regrets returning for Scream 7, and he’s not being quiet about why.
Matthew Lillard admitted that his excitement about playing Stu Macher again kept him from fully considering Melissa Barrera’s removal from the franchise. “I didn’t really think about Melissa and that journey,” he said during a Sept. 15 Q&A after a 30th-anniversary screening of the original Scream in Austin, Texas.
Lillard called Barrera’s firing “really f*cking bullshit” and said she’s “on the right side of history.” He added, “I didn’t say no. I’m embarrassed, that’s the truth… I blew that. I’m on the wrong side of history for that. I still like being in the movie [but] it may not have been the best idea.”
He tied his willingness to speak out to protecting his queer children and opposing ICE. That same sense of responsibility, he said, should have moved the industry to defend Barrera when she was dropped.
Spyglass Media Group dropped Barrera from the developing sequel in November 2023 after she posted about Palestine, called for a ceasefire in Gaza and criticized Israel’s actions and Western media coverage. The company said her posts crossed into “antisemitism or the incitement of hate,” citing references to genocide, ethnic cleansing and Holocaust distortion.
Jenna Ortega exited soon afterward, and director Christopher Landon also left the project. The story was reworked around Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott, with original Scream writer Kevin Williamson directing and legacy actors including Lillard returning.
Scream 7 opened on Feb. 27, 2026, and earned approximately $214 million worldwide against a $45 million budget.
