Why aren't Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega in “Scream 7”?

Randall ColburnFri, February 27, 2026 at 12:00 PM UTC

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Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega in 'Scream VI'Credit: Philippe Bosse/Paramount PictureKey Points -

Scream 7 will see Neve Campbell reprising her role as Sidney Prescott.

Melissa Barrera was fired from the movie in 2023 due to comments she shared about the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Scream 7 has also seen the loss of multiple directors, including Happy Death Day's Christopher Landon.

The Scream series stabbed its way back into the hearts of horror lovers with 2022's Scream, the slasher franchise's first entry in more than a decade.

Entertainment Weekly found Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett's revival "intermittently fun and dull," but it nevertheless managed to rake in nearly $140 million on a $24 million budget. Scream VI, arriving the following year, proved even more successful at the box office. The series' renewed popularity, one could argue, was due in part to a killer ensemble that paired Scream OGs Courteney Cox and David Arquette with rising stars like Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega.

Scream 7 seemed like a sure thing, but its path to the screen has experienced major obstacles, the most publicized being Barrera's firing over social media posts and Ortega's subsequent departure. Indeed, the movie hitting theaters this week, directed by original Scream scribe Kevin Williamson and featuring the return of Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott, looks very different from the one originally planned.

So, what happened? Why aren't Barrera and Ortega reprising their roles? And how many directors have been attached to the project? Here's what we know.

Why did Melissa Barrera leave Scream 7?

Melissa Barrera in 'Scream VI'Credit: Everett Collection

Barrera was fired from Scream 7 in November 2023 after sharing a series of social media posts commenting on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

In her posts, Barrera expressed support for the Palestinian cause, likened the Gaza Strip to a "concentration camp," per PEOPLE, and accused the Israeli government of "genocide & ethnic cleansing," according to The Hollywood Reporter. She also alleged that "Western media only shows the other side," adding, "Why they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself."

Spyglass Media Group, the company behind Scream (2022), Scream VI (2024), and the upcoming Scream 7, defended its decision in a subsequent statement: "Spyglass' stance is unequivocally clear: We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech."

Representatives for Paramount Pictures, which distributes the Scream movies, declined Entertainment Weekly's request for comment at the time.

Barrera quickly responded with a statement of her own. "First and foremost I condemn Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. I condemn hate and prejudice of any kind against any group of people," she wrote. "As a Latina, a proud Mexicana, I feel the responsibility of having a platform that allows me the privilege of being heard, and therefore I have tried to use it to raise awareness about issues I care about and to lend my voice to those in need."

She continued, "Every person on this earth — regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or socio-economic status — deserves equal human rights, dignity and, of course, freedom. I believe a group of people are NOT their leadership, and that no governing body should be above criticism. I pray day and night for no more deaths, for no more violence, and for peaceful co-existence."

Barrera added that she would "continue to advocate for peace and safety, for human rights and freedom. Silence is not an option for me."

What followed her firing, Barrera revealed in November 2024, was "the darkest and hardest year of my life."

But she doesn't regret speaking out. "You just gotta act according to how you preach," she told The Independent. "And that depends on what you value, what your morals are, and whether you can separate that from art or not."

At the film's Feb. 25 premiere, protestors waving the Palestine flag gathered outside the Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles. Their aim, according to a press release, was to highlight "the industry’s widespread silencing of pro-Palestinian voices and its whitewashing of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza."

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"I see you," read Barrera's Instagram Story from that evening. Many interpreted the post as a show of solidarity with the protestors. Entertainment Weekly reached out to Barrera's reps for further comment.

Why did Jenna Ortega leave Scream 7?

Jenna Ortega in 'Scream VI'Credit: Philippe Bossé/Paramount

Ortega's exit from the franchise made headlines just a day after news broke about Barrera's firing. While many surmised that it had something to do with Barrera's dismissal, initial reports said that it was due to a scheduling conflict with her Netflix series, Wednesday.

In an April 2025 interview with The Cut, Ortega said her departure had "nothing to do with pay or scheduling." Rather, she said, it had to do with the behind-the-scenes shakeups, including the exits of directors Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin.

"The Melissa stuff was happening, and it was all kind of falling apart," Ortega explained. "If Scream VII 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."

Furthermore, she said she wanted to eschew franchise work to "prioritize new directors and original stories."

Spyglass Media Group declined EW's request for comment about Ortega's exit at the time.

Why did Scream 7's previous directors depart?

Christopher LandonCredit: Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images

Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett, who directed the last two Scream films, were set to helm Scream 7, but were forced to drop out in the summer of 2023 due to scheduling issues. The pair were prepping another film, Abigail, and its production schedule clashed with the studio's plans for Scream 7.

"We were like, 'We'll do it. We just can't do it in this window," Bettinelli-Olpin said in an interview for Ashley Cullins' Your Favorite Scary Movie: How the Scream Films Rewrote the Rules of Horror. "And it was a friendly and polite, 'Okay. moving on.' But it did sour us a bit, we're not gonna lie."

Gillett added, "We put it all on the f---in' line to make [Scream VI], and then to not have 7 work for scheduling reasons, it's just, like, man, what a bummer."

Stepping in for the duo was Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon, though he lasted only a few months on the project. Landon announced his departure on Dec. 23, 2023, saying it was "a dream job that turned into a nightmare."

In Your Favorite Scary Movie, Landon said that he quit a week after Barrera's firing. "There was no movie anymore. The whole script was about her. I didn't sign on to make 'a Scream movie.' I signed on to make that movie. When that movie no longer existed, I moved on."

It didn't help that Landon found himself a target of those upset by Barrera's dismissal. After receiving death threats, he said, he chose to publicly announce his exit. "I made the decision to announce that I had left after the threats got too intense. They were all screaming at someone who wasn't even on the movie anymore," he said. "There were a lot of people who thought I was some sort of villain. That really got in my head. It was painful, and it was painful to lose a dream job in such a sudden and bizarre way."

Spyglass Media Group and Paramount Pictures did not respond to EW's request for comment at the time.

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