Scream 7 Given A Long Leadtime, Will Fans Care?
Depending on how the title is sitting in your mind, it will either thrill, upset, or make no difference to you to find out that Scream 7 has set its release date for February 27, 2026. More than a year since it was announced that the project was moving forward, there have been a lot of hiccups that have divided the Scream community. But, for now, the beloved horror film series will continue with Neve Campbell reprising her role as Sidney Prescott and universe creator Kevin Williamson taking on the job of director for the first time.
Melissa Barrera And Jenna Ortega Depart
To fully understand why some people may not care if Scream 7 comes out in 2026, 2027, or ever, we’ll need to turn the calendar back a year to the fall of 2023. It was around this time that actress Melissa Barrera, who had appeared as a co-lead in Scream (2022) and Scream VI, was fired from the seventh installment after sharing pro-Palestinian posts on her social media.
After parting ways with the actress, Spyglass Media Group was still struggling to find their footing when Jenna Ortega (Barrera’s co-lead and on-screen sister), announced that she wouldn’t be taking part in the new film either, due to scheduling conflicts with the second season of her hit Netflix series, Wednesday.
Scream 7 Gets Sidney Back
From here, the wheels fell off rather quickly and, by the time director Christopher Landon (the Happy Death Day franchise) stepped down around the holidays, it seemed that Scream 7 would never make it to the cinema – let alone as soon as 2026.
However, as the new year chugged along, a spark was lit and the studio announced that Neve Campbell would reprise her role as the franchise’s original final girl, Sidney Prescott. This goes to show just how much a little desperation can help as Campbell previously passed on Scream VI due to payment discrepancies – something she and the studio have presumably since agreed upon.
Everything We Know About Scream 7
So far, aside from Campbell’s return and Scream 7’s release date being on February 27, 2026, here’s what we know about the seventh installment in the beloved horror franchise. As mentioned, Kevin Williamson will be directing the production, which is exciting for those of us who loved how he crafted the screenplays for the first, second, and fourth titles.
In between helping filmmaker Wes Craven turn the slasher into the iconic series that it became, Williamson is also well known as the creator of the timeless ‘90s series Dawson’s Creek as well as The CW’s The Vampire Diaries.
Will Courteney Cox Return?
As for who else is set to star alongside Campbell when Scream 7 slashes into theaters in 2026, your guess is as good as ours. It’s long been presumed that Courteney Cox was already signed on to reprise her role as Gale Weathers as the actress has been involved with every movie to roll out – even Scream VI, kind of making her more of a final girl than Campbell if you really think about it.
Other Possible Comebacks
When it comes to who else the movie could bring back, there are some solid possibilities as we could see Patrick Dempsey reprising his role from Scream 3 or the other two members of Scream and Scream VI’s Core Four, Jasmin Savoy-Brown and Mason Gooding, stepping back up to the plate.
Fans have also long been calling for Spyglass to apologize to Melissa Barrera and offer her her job back as many disagree with the production studio’s decision to let her go. Now that we know Scream 7 is slated for an arrival in 2026, hopefully, these will be the next questions to receive answers in the upcoming days.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
