Ghostface may be finally defeated, but not by a final girl.
Following the success of Scream 6, Scream 7 was already greenlit and the cast was set to return to the project.
However, the project was met with its first obstacle when the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strike took place in 2023. Production halted until a deal was made and actors and writers returned to work by November.
Before the movie could move into production, news of Melissa Barrera's exit came as a shock to everyone.
Her opinions on the Israel-Hamas war in her social media posts did not go down well with the producers of the movie. She was accused of being anti-semitic. She had criticized the Israeli government for the deaths of Palestinians.
She was immediately fired for voicing her political opinions that were seen as harmful misinformation.
The next day, fans of the Scream franchise were in for another shock. They were still reeling from Melissa Barrera's exit from the franchise and contemplating if the future of the Scream movie was in jeopardy when their fears were confirmed with yet another exit from a star.
Jenna Ortega, who rose to fame with her roles in Wednesday and the comedy-horror film The Babysitter: Killer Queen, decided to quit the movie.
It was reported that her exit came because of scheduling conflicts as she was working on the second season of Wednesday. But rumors state otherwise.
Apparently, Jenna Ortega was not happy with the salary she was receiving and quit. Fans of the franchise have another theory. They believe Ortega sided with Barrera as she had liked a post by the actress and even shown her admiration for standing up for what she believed in.
With both stars gone, Scream 7 suffered yet another setback.
Scream 7 was going to be directed by Christopher Landon who had previously directed horror-comedy movies like Happy Death Day and its sequel, and Freaky.
After the exits of both Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, Landon too announced his departure from the project. He stated that he left the project because his dream project had turned into a nightmare and that his heart broke for everyone involved.
Scream 7 was now without the two stars who revived the franchise following Neve Campbell's departure and who had helped change the rules of the Scream franchise.
Scream 6 brought the characters into a new city and we saw Ghostface no longer wielding just a knife, but also a gun.
It was also the first Scream movie without Neve Campbell. It was earlier reported that Campbell was approached but negotiations fell apart because the actress was disappointed with the pay cut. Campbell asserted that it was her presence in Scream that had pushed the franchise into becoming a cult classic.
Scream 6 managed to rake in box office success as well as receive positive reviews from critics despite Neve Campbell's absence.
However, following the sequel's development issues, can we see Neve Campbell's return to the franchise?
This seems like a good possibility considering the recent controversies.
Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega were supposed to be the new generation that was supposed to bring Scream into the contemporary. The producers obviously thought that Campbell may not want to play her role in the coming years. The Scream franchise was supposed to be about teens and for a teenage/young adult audience.
Neve Campbell could no longer play a teenager and her character story was explored thoroughly in Scream 3 and Scream 4.
It became important for the franchise to see new characters and while it was disappointing to see Neve Campbell take a backseat in the franchise to which she had brought so much value, it was also interesting to see Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera take the reins from her.
Now that both actresses have departed the project, the franchise is without a compelling protagonist.
Neve Campbell has recently stated that she would consider returning to the franchise given the right circumstances which probably alludes to her salary. Should she get a good salary, she would definitely return.
But having Campbell back will not be enough. The franchise needs a protagonist that will take a franchise further. Or an antagonist for that matter.
Like Jason or Freddy or The Shape, perhaps the franchise should also go in that direction. Ghostface could be just one person, someone from Campbell's past who stalks her and threatens her.
Perhaps it is time that Ghostface has another identity, and just one consistent throughout the franchise.
Scream did try to take a chance at starting something new with Scream 6 and it needs to go forward instead of backwards.
The presence of Neve Campbell as Sidney, and Courtney Cox as Gale, would always be welcome. They need to be present so that fans of the franchise always have that piece of nostalgia when they watch the movies. But it is obvious now that things need to change. We need Scream to evolve and become even more terrifying.
Also, it would help if the supposed mysterious identity of Ghostface isn't so obvious as it has been in the past two movies.
The franchise needs to give the audience something to actually scream about.
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