Summary

• Scream 7 should be the final movie in the franchise to give Sidney Prescott the closure she deserves.
• The return of legacy characters in Scream 7 may not be enough to make up for the shocking cast exits.
• The series seems unlikely to end with Scream 7, due to its financial success and nostalgic potential.

I don’t think best Scream movies ever, the franchise ran into trouble when stars Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera left the series in late 2023. Barrera was fired in November 2023 and Ortega exited the project shortly after, prompting Happy Death Day/ Freaky director Christopher Landon to subsequently leave Scream 7.

While Neve Campbell’s return as Sidney Prescott in Scream 7 was announced a few months later, this wasn’t enough to get me back on board. Scream 2022 drastically reduced Sidney’s role in the series, clarifying that she was in a stable place and was no longer the center of the franchise. Scream 2022 effectively ed the baton to Sam and Tara before Scream VI cut Campbell’s characters altogether due to a pay dispute with the actor. As such, I was looking forward to Scream 7’s resolution of Sam and Tara’s story, not a new, unrelated Sidney storyline.

Scream 7 Should Be The Final Movie

Neve Campbell’s Return Must Mark The Slasher Franchise’s End

The news that Scream’s original screenwriter Kevin Williamson would take over directorial duties on Scream 7 was clearly an attempt to drum up hype for the franchise via fan nostalgia. However, this announcement ignored the fact that Williamson is better known as a screenwriter than a director. Dropping the new cast makes it very difficult for the series to continue past this next installment, so Scream 7 should be the final Scream movie. This is about the only way that the project could pique my interest again after all the messy behind-the-scenes reshuffles.

Sidney’s surprisingly upbeat ending is inevitably going to be undone when Scream 7 starts.

Scream 7 seems doomed to be a letdown since the sequel has dropped its main characters and retconned Sidney’s happy ending. Not only will Sam and Tara’s Scream storylines never be resolved now that they have vanished from the series, but Sidney’s surprisingly upbeat ending is inevitably going to be undone when Scream 7 starts. Scream 7 needs to hurt people close to Sidney so the sequel has stakes, but it will be difficult for the series to make this feel anything but excessively mean-spirited at this stage. Sidney has been through the wringer five times already.

Scream Has Already Ruined Sidney Prescott's Happy Ending

The Scream Series Repeatedly Undid Sidney’s Happy Endings

Campbell’s iconic Scream series heroine deserved a break back in 2011’s Scream 4, let alone Scream 2022. Fortunately, the 2022 reboot did give Sidney a sense of closure that she was rudely denied after the endings of Scream 3 and Scream 4. Scream 2022 revealed Sidney was in a happy relationship with her Scream 3 love interest, Mark Kincaid. Judging by the stroller she was pushing, she was also likely to be a relatively new parent. Scream VI avoided undoing this happy ending by keeping Sidney away from its gruesome story, so Scream 7 really needs to justify her return.

Sidney’s character arc needs a definitive sense of closure now that Scream 7 is bringing her back.

I can’t imagine a version of Scream 7’s opening kill scene that isn’t either too bleak or too tame. If Sidney’s love interest or children are killed off, this will make the series way too dark. However, if they survive, along with Courtney Cox’s returning Gale Weathers, then the once-brutal slasher franchise will feel gutless. Either way, Sidney’s character arc needs a definitive sense of closure now that Scream 7 is bringing her back. It will be almost impossible to make Sidney’s story appropriately scary and simultaneously satisfying, so Campbell’s character at least deserves to rest after this outing.

How Likely Is It That Scream 7 Will End The Franchise

Scream 7 Seems Vanishingly Unlikely To End The Series

Unfortunately, I don’t think the Scream series will end with Scream 7, even though it really should. Scream VI earned a staggering $169 million at the box office after Scream 2022’s impressive $138 million, proving there was plenty of financial potential in the future of the series. The loss of Barrera and Ortega, both of whom are profitable stars, will likely hurt Scream 7’s box office prospects. However, the series remains one of the most iconic slasher franchises in horror history.

Not only that, but the announcement of I Know What You Did Last Summer’s reboot and 2024’s horror comedy Y2K prove that ‘90s horror nostalgia is not going anywhere yet. As such, Scream 7 will likely serve as a springboard for further sequels, even though this isn’t a good idea for the series itself. I hope Sidney’s story gets a satisfying ending that lets the heroine of the series live in peace, but this dream seems increasingly out of reach. Thus, Scream 7 ending the series is the only way for the Scream sequel to win me back.