'Scream 7' Gets February 2026 Release Date; Courteney Cox Not Secured Yet
'Scream 7' Gets February 2026 Release Date; Courteney Cox Not Secured Yet
The return of Sidney Prescott is now just 16 months away
Your favorite horror franchise has a date. After fumbling the bag and losing its next-gen stars and director due in part to Spyglass’s firing of Melissa Barrera for condemning the genocide of Palestine, Scream 7 had to crawl back to and beg original star Neve Campbell to return and win her over with the money they wouldn’t pay her that caused her to skip out on the previous installment. They also got original writer Kevin Williamson to step in to direct after Christopher Landon dropped out. Now, those efforts have a due date.
Campbell and Williamson both posted to Instagram Tuesday that February 27, 2026 is the released date pegged, or more accurately stabbed, for the newest film in the franchise. It’s captioned “It’s gonna be a killer 2026.” Williamson, who of the original four Wes Craven-directed films only missed out on writing the third, is not writing this installment either. Guy Busick, who wrote Scream and Scream VI with James Vanderbilt is going solo this time while Vanderbilt is busy directing the feature Nuremberg. Currently, nothing else has been scheduled to open directly against it, but both Pixar’s Hoppers and Warner Bros. Pictures Animation’s The Cat in the Hat open the following week. Audience overlap between them and Scream 7 is not expected to be all that much. And yeah, we’re back to western digits rather than Roman numerals.
It is claimed that Jenna Ortega departed over Wednesday scheduling conflicts but it wouldn’t be far-fetched to believe losing her on-screen sister over her reasonable stance was part of it. As for the franchise’s sole original returning cast member in the last film, Courteney Cox went into negotiations in March to return for the seventh installment as Gale Weathers, but the deal isn’t done yet. “I’m not officially signed on,” Cox said. “…but there will be a Scream 7.” She’s excited that Williamson will get a shot at directing, saying “You can’t get better than that choice. It’s going to be fun.” but as for herself she has no timeline in mind for making a final decision. She’s certainly keeping an eye on things, finger on the pulse, etc. “They’re rewriting all the time. It’s not like I don’t know what’s going on.” In the months since Cox’s negotiations began there has been no other casting news that has gotten out, whether new characters or returnees from previous phases.
Filming is set to begin in December in Atlanta after being postponed a few months due to Campbell and Williamson’s schedules. With last year’s dual strikes also cited as a reason for the delays, it may just as much be about what they had delayed before boarding as it is about the film’s own pause. Vanderbilt, representing Project X Entertainment with William Sherak and Paul Neinstein are producing with Radio Silence, the directors of this decade’s first two installments, serving as executive producers.
It’s also starting to be seen that Spyglass’s excuses for firing Barrera aren’t going to work as much as they’d hoped. She was recently reported to be among five that have joined a still-untitled techno-thriller series for Peacock from James Wan and Simu Liu, who stars and executive produces. In the not too distant future, first-generation American intelligence analyst Alexander Hale, played by Liu, realizes his brain has been hacked, and so someone has access to everything he sees and hears. Working for a shadowy agency while still trying to escape the hackers, he must put on a performance and keep it on to figure everything out and “prove where his allegiance lies”. Barrera will play Michelle, a deceptive character who will “keep everyone guessing”.
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Variety (1, 2), Deadline