Summary
- Scream 7 is highly anticipated by fans, with the previous installment leaving the door open for the story to continue with a new Ghostface.
- The Scream franchise has stuck to a formula while introducing new elements, and Scream 7 has the potential to be game-changing based on recent trends.
- With Scream 7 confirmed there's already a huge deal of anticipation for the next outing, especially since the confirmation that Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon is at the helm.
With 2023's Scream 6 continuing on the beloved slasher franchise, fans are already eager for all the Scream 7 news. The original Scream was released in 1996 and revitalized the slasher genre while introducing a meta element to horror movies that changed the genre forever. Director Wes Craven returned to continue the story of Sidney Prescott and her friends being stalked by various Ghostface killers. Following Craven's death, the franchise took a new direction with a new cast of young characters who were poised to carry the series forward and the Scream 7 news indicates there are still plans of more to come.
The Scream franchise has always stuck to a very reliable formula while also introducing new elements to keep audiences on their toes. However, trends set by the most recent iterations mean Scream 7 is one of the most potentially game-changing upcoming Scream movies there's been so far. Scream 6 took the franchise to New York City for the first time and cemented sisters Sam and Tara Carpenter as the new protagonists of the series as they face off with a new Ghostface. The ending of Scream 6 certainly left the door open for the movies to continue with this new cast and there is already plenty of anticipation among fans to see where the classic horror franchise will go next with Scream 7 now in production.
Scream 7: Latest News
The latest Scream 7 news confirms that the movie is on its way but with a new director at the helm. Scream 7 will be directed by Christopher Landon who is best-known in the horror genre for directing Happy Death Day and Freaky. The announcement means that the directing team of Radio Silence (Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin) will be stepping away from the Scream franchise after helping to revitalize it with 2022's Scream. The duo returned for Scream 6 which became the highest-grossing movie in the franchise.
Though Radio Silence were clearly effective in bringing back the beloved slasher franchise, Landon feels like a good choice to replace them for directing Scream 7. The Scream movies have always had a comedic tone which is all over Landon's previous movies. However, he also clearly has a love for the genre roots of slashers and has even been able to introduce other genre elements in them with Happy Death Day's time loop story and Freaky's body-swap story.
Scream 7 Is Confirmed
Scream 7 is confirmed to be in development. The news came with the announcement that the franchise would see a change in directors. In August 2023, it was revealed that Radio Silence would not be returning for Scream 7 after having directed 2022's Scream and Scream 6. Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day) will be taking over as director though there is no word yet on a Scream 7 release date.
Potential Scream 7 Cast
A new core group of characters has been established and will likely return as the Scream 7 cast. This includes Melissa Barrera as Sam, Jenna Ortega as Tara, Jasmin Savoy Brown as Mindy, and Mason Gooding as Chad. Scream 6 explicitly identified these characters as the new leads of the franchise, even dubbing them as "The Core Four" which is something that will likely continue into the next entry of the franchise.
Among the new Scream 6 characters, the only one left standing at the end was Sam's new love interest Danny, played by Tom Segarra. Boyfriends do not usually fare well in the Scream movies but with Segarra's character not only turning out to not be Ghostface but also surviving makes it a strong possibility he'll return. Scream 6 also brought back some key legacy characters with Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers and Hayden Panettiere as Kirby Reed returning and still standing by the end.
Sidney Prescott did not return for Scream 6, however, marking the first Scream movie in which she was not featured. Neve Campbell chose not to return as she felt the money she was offered did not reflect her contribution to the high-grossing franchise which she has led since its very beginning. While Scream 6 focused on the new characters, Sidney's absence was felt and there is still some hope that Campbell could return to the franchise in Scream 7.
Where Scream 7's Plot Could Take The Franchise
While no Scream 7 story details are known at this point, there are a lot of interesting directions the next chapter could go in. It seems likely that the sequels will continue to explore the struggles with Sam overcoming her dark side as the daughter of Billy Loomis. There are also some fun possibilities with returning characters being the perfect Ghostface in Scream 7. Scream 6 even included a nod to the popular fan theory that Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard) from the original Scream did not actually die and could return.
It will also be interesting to see how Scream 7 sets itself apart as a piece of meta commentary as each Scream installment has had fun with setting the rules for the type of movie the characters find themselves in. The original Scream was about horror movies, Scream 2 was sequels, Scream 3 was trilogies, Scream 4 was reboots, 2022's Scream was legacy sequels, and Scream 6 established itself as commentary on continuing franchises. That will be a hard one to expand on in Scream 7, especially as Scream 6 didn't do a great job in defining the rules of a franchise.