Kevin Williamson reacts to 'Scream 7' turmoil, cast shakeups
He'll be right back.
Kevin Williamson, screenwriter for the first 'Scream' movie, is returning to direct the upcoming 'Scream 7,' premiering on February 27, 2026.
'Oh, it's been awesome [to return]. I've always been on the fringes of the last few 'Scream' movies, as sort of the granddaddy of the franchise,' he exclusively told The Post.
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8 Neve Campbell in 'Scream 4.'
©Dimension Films/Courtesy Everett Collection
8 Kevin Williamson, on set of 'Scream 5' in 2022.
©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
Williamson, 60, who also created the classic teen drama 'Dawson's Creek,' wrote the first 'Scream' screenplay that launched the hit slasher franchise in 1996, as well as the screenplay for 'Scream 2' in 1997 and 'Scream 4' in 2011.
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He was a producer on all of the 'Scream' films. In the upcoming 2026 movie, he's in the director's chair.
'They've been very kind to me and very welcoming,' he told The Post while promoting his new Netflix show, 'The Waterfront.'
8 Courteney Cox, Jamie Kennedy and Neve Campbell in 'Scream.'
©Dimension Films/Courtesy Everett Collection
'And then they allowed me to direct this one. And we had a blast,' Williamson added. 'It was so nice to work with Courteney Cox and Sidney and tell a new story. So, I hope people like it.'
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The franchise follows Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), who was a high school teen in the first movie. By the seventh installment, she'll be a mother with a teen daughter (Isabel May).
In the first movie, Sidney is terrorized by Ghostface, a killer with a black cloak and white scream mask who ends up being two people: her boyfriend, Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) and his obnoxious friend, Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard).
8 Skeet Ulrich, Jamie Kennedy and Matthew Lillard in 'Scream.'
©Dimension Films/Courtesy Everett Collection
8 Matthew Lillard and Rose McGowan in 'Scream.'
©Dimension Films/Courtesy Everett Collection
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David Arquette co-starred as the hapless sheriff, Dewey Riley, while Cox played investigative journalist Gale Weathers.
Lillard is returning for 'Scream 7' despite Stu getting killed off at the end of the first movie. Subsequent Ghostface killers have been different people in each film.
When asked what he can share about Lillard's role in 'Scream 7,' Williamson quipped, 'Nothing. Not one word.'
8 Courteney Cox and David Arquette in 'Scream.'
Courtesy Everett Collection
'But I will say, I love Matthew,' he continued. 'And it was such a pleasure to call him up. They let me be the one to call and ask them back to the franchise. And that was a really nice phone call.'
'Scream 7' has had behind-the-scenes upheaval, as Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera were originally slated to star in the flick before they exited the project and the movie got retooled.
The first version of the horror film began to fall apart in 2023 when original directors Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin left the franchise to direct Barrera in a Universal movie titled 'Abigail.'
8 Jasmin Savoy Brown, Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera attend the Global Premiere of Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group's 'Scream VI' at AMC Lincoln Square on March 6, 2023 in New York, New York.
Getty Images for Paramount Pictures
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Later that year, Barrera, 34, was fired for expressing support for Palestine amid the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza.
Sources reportedly told Deadline that Barrera was let go from the production due to 'her Instagram stories which have been perceived as anti-Semitic.'
It was initially reported that Ortega left the franchise due to 'pay and scheduling issues,' but in April, the 'Wednesday' star told The Cut, 'The Melissa stuff was happening…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.'
8 Kevin Williamson attends the 'The Vampire Diaries' panel during Comic-Con International 2016 at San Diego Convention Center on July 23, 2016 in San Diego, California.
Getty Images
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Williamson, meanwhile, said he is 'on the fringes' of the situation.
'Watching that all go down, and I'm not even sure what happened. I can't really speak to it, because I wasn't a part of it,' he told the Post.
'The thing about 'Scream' is it can live in any form. And you can return to a character like Sidney and Gale and tell that story, and then the next one can be about someone else,' he noted. 'I really like the idea that 'Scream' has evolved into a franchise that can expand in those ways.'
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