Christopher Landon And Jenna Ortega Talk Their ‘Scream 7' Exits

No surprise, but they both surround Melissa Barrera’s firing and only related factors, not pay or scheduling

Credit: Paramount Pictures

Even as Scream 7 manages to move on, the film's initial collapse, brought on by the firing of star Melissa Barrera, who had played Sam Carpenter in the fifth and sixth films, for condemning Israel's genocide of the Palestinians, cannot be forgotten. Her co-star Jenna Ortega, who played sister Tara, and her almost-director, Christopher Landon, have recently confirmed how her firing led to their exits.

“It had nothing to do with pay or scheduling,” Ortega revealed, as she promotes her latest film Death of a Unicorn. “The Melissa stuff was happening, and it was all kind of falling apart. If Scream 7 wasn’t going to be with that team of directors and those people I fell in love with, then it didn’t seem like the right move for me in my career at the time.” Having done both films as well as played Astrid Deetz in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, she remarked “I’ve happened to join a lot of franchises, which is so great to be a part of legacy. But for me, I’m really trying to prioritize new directors and original stories. I know on the outside, maybe people are looking at my choices like, Man, what the hell is this girl doing? I never thought I would do a movie with unicorns. But an original script is exciting. If I can help get it made, I love to do that.”

Spyglass Crawls Back To Neve Campbell For 'Scream 7'

Landon, in the midst of promoting his Blumhouse thriller Drop, starring Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, and Violett Beane, described taking the brunt of the blame despite the decision coming from Spyglass Media “I got messages saying, ‘I’m going to find your kids, and I’m going to kill them because you support child murder,'” Landon, whose two sons are five and eight, told. “The head of security at various studios and the FBI had to examine the threats. It was highly aggressive and really scary.” He reiterated that the decision wasn’t his with “I did not fire her. A lot of people think I had something to do with it, and it was not my doing. I had no control of the situation at all. I think in the absence of people understanding how Hollywood works and what the hierarchy is, the fans were like, ‘that’s the guy.’ And so they came for me, knives out.”

Spyglass wanted him to continue as director despite what position they put him in, but “the amount of abuse” that came was not worth it to him. “I decided I didn’t want to give any part of myself to that,” he remarked. “For me, it was not worth it. I would rather put my efforts into something else, where I could feel appreciated and respected. The hate and abuse really spoiled it for me, and I lost my love for the idea of going forward.”

He continued, “In the midst of all the chaos, I was grieving the loss of one of my dream jobs. I went through all the stages—I was shocked, I was sad, and then I got angry. To be a part of this legacy, it was really hard to let it go.” Landon made it known that he has “no resentment at all” and wishes successor Kevin Williamson, who wrote three of the first four installments and directs for the first time, all the success. “Kevin probably made a banger of a movie, because he knows it better than anybody. It’s going to be awesome.”

Landon’s departure announcement came in December 2023, where he said “I guess now is as good a time as any to announce I formally exited Scream 7 weeks ago. This will disappoint some and delight others. It was a dream job that turned into a nightmare. And my heart did break for everyone involved. Everyone. But it’s time to move on. I have nothing more to add to the conversation other than I hope Wes’ legacy thrives and lifts above the din of a divided world. What he and Kevin created is something amazing and I was honored to have even the briefest moment basking in their glow.” The hints at the death threats came quickly, as he soon wrote “This is my statement: 💔 Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make.”

Williamson coming on to direct came with the pivot back to Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, with the optics of having both leads down freed up enough money to resolve the pay dispute that resulted in her sitting out the sixth film. Though Barrera and Ortega were lost, Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers and Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding as their friends Mindy and Chad Meeks-Martin all managed to be wrangled back. while he hasn’t been brought up, we should be expecting Roger L. Jackson back as the voice of Ghostface, whoever it ends up being. With this film Sidney’s family is being unveiled for the first time. Her husband is Mark Evans played by Joel McHale and they have at least one child, played by Isabel May. Celeste O’Connor, Asa Germann, McKenna Grace, Anna Camp, Sam Rechner, Ethan Embry, Michelle Randolph and Jimmy Tatro have all joined the cast with names unknown, though Camp and Rechner are reportedly playing mother and son. Mark Consuelos is reportedly playing Robbie, a news reporter. David Arquette, Scott Foley, and Matthew Lillard are set to reprise their roles as Dewey Riley, Roman Bridger, and Stu Macher in some fashion. Guy Busick, who wrote Scream and Scream VI with James Vanderbilt is going alone. Vanderbilt, representing Project X Entertainment with William Sherak and Paul Neinstein are producing with Radio Silence, the directors of the fifth and sixth installments, serving as executive producers. Scream 7 releases in theaters on February 27, 2026.

'The Angry Birds Movie 3' Makes Sega-Friendly Flight To Paramount

Sources: The Cut, Vanity Fair