The seventh film of the Scream franchise is in a creative conundrum after losing two of its stars this week.
After Melissa Barrera’s removal from the upcoming sequel of Scream 7 over her social media comments on the Israel-Gaza conflict, there was a growing online movement urging Ortega to boycott the Spyglass Media project. This call has gained enough momentum to make Ortega’s name trend on X, formerly known as Twitter. By Wednesday morning, numerous viral tweets suggested that Ortega had expressed a desire to exit the project.
According to Deadline, Ortega’s absence from the upcoming film “has nothing to do” with Barrera, and “nor does it have to do with the actress asking for an end to her Scream contract.” Instead, it reports, sources say that the parties involved had already discussed the matter before the actors’ strike began this summer; the trade attributes her exit from the project to scheduling conflicts with her highly anticipated Netflix series Wednesday and film Beetlejuice.
According to Variety, The sources have also confirmed that Ortega’s exit stems from a scheduling conflict with Wednesday Season 2.
James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick, the scriptwriters for the two preceding Scream movies, are tasked with creating a new draft for Scream 7. The film is currently seeking new protagonists, with a range of characters from the franchise still available or potentially revivable.
Among them is Neve Campbell, who featured in the 2022 Scream but chose not to participate in the subsequent installment due to a salary dispute. Courteney Cox is another actor under consideration for a role in the upcoming movie.
Jenna Ortega received a Comedy Series Actress Primetime Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe Comedy TV Actress nom for her turn as the title character of Wednesday.
