Turns out the press leaks didn’t reveal everyone.

How Scream 7 brought back Matthew Lillard, David Arquette, and more

Turns out the press leaks didn't reveal everyone.

By Nick Romano

Nick Romano is a senior editor at ** with 15 years of journalism experience covering entertainment. His work previously appeared in *Vanity Fair*, Vulture, IGN, and more.

EW's editorial guidelines

February 27, 2026 6:30 p.m. ET

How 'Scream 7' brings back Matthew Lillard, David Arquette, Scott Foley, and more. Credit:

David M. Moir/Dimension Films; PARAMOUNT PICTURES; Rico Torres/Dimension Films via Getty

**This article contains spoilers from *Scream 7*. **

In March of last year, right around the time *Scream 7 *wrapped filming, some key castings started to leak in the press. First, we got word of Scott Foley's return, then Matthew Lillard, then David Arquette — three characters from the franchise who were killed off in previous films, two of whom were past Ghostface killers.

How were they coming back? Were they playing the same characters? The news sparked an array of theories across social media, but as the film now opens in theaters, one theory has been proven correct. Plus, we learned there was another secret casting that didn't leak.

The answer to all this is A.I. The new Ghostface killers use deepfake videos to taunt Neve Campbell's Sidney Evans (formerly Prescott), using faces from her traumatic past. Lillard's Stu Macher, one of the two Ghostfaces from the original *Scream*, plays the most prominent role in all this.

Skeet Ulrich, Jamie Kennedy, and Matthew Lillard in 'Scream' (1996).

Dimension Films/Courtesy Everett

Having partnered with other teen mass murderer Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), Stu originally died when Sidney slammed a television onto his screaming face in the 1996 original. However, fan theories, supported by Lillard himself, persisted for years over whether Stu could have survived.

Being the meta slasher franchise that it is, *Scream 7 *plays with all of that. The two primary Ghostface killers, Jessica (Anna Camp) and Marco (Ethan Embry), toy with Sidney to make her think Stu survived and became a "John Doe" patient at the Fallbrook psych hospital before being released. Despite the fun, the real Stu did, in fact, die from that television incident way back when.

How 'Scream 7' handles Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega's franchise exits

'Scream 7' premiere draws pro-Palestine protesters, Melissa Barrera seemingly responds

"There was so much anxiety, so much fear, so much insecurity about stepping back into something that, frankly — and it's yet to be determined — could go really poorly," Lillard previously told ** of his Stu comeback. "I mean, if people hate the movie, hate me, hate Stu, question why I came back, all of that weighs on me heavily… It's a gamble of legacy. I wouldn't want to hurt the legacy at all. And if I thought it would, I wouldn't be here."

Scott Foley as Roman Bridger in 'Scream 3' (2000).

Dimension Films

As for the other dead *Scream* characters, they arrive for the big finish reveal, also via deepfakes. Before revealing their identities, the Ghostfaces taunt Sidney in her home with screen projections of Roman Bridgers (Foley), her long-lost stepbrother and the killer from *Scream 3 *(2000); Dewey (Arquette), Sidney's close friend who died during the events of the fifth *Scream*; and Mrs. Loomis (Laurie Metcalf), the mother of Billy Loomis and one of two Ghostfaces from *Scream 2 *(1997). Each gets their own little moment to sling barbs at Sid.

The true killer's identity was nostalgia, in many ways. As Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown) muses earlier in the film, "This time it's all about nostalgia." Even the primary *Scream 7* Ghostface is fueled by her feelings over the original Sidney audiences met on screen in those earlier movies. Each cameo represents another of the ultimate *Scream* Queen's greatest hits.

Laurie Metcalf as Mrs. Loomis in Scream 2 (1997).

Dimension Films

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

Isabel May, playing Sidney's eldest daughter, had signaled the AI component in an earlier deep-dive interview with EW.

“It seems to me what the *Scream* films have done is project the social anxiety of the time,” she said. “What right now in the world are people anxious about? How do we incorporate it into the story? This is the seventh one, so what is that now? I do think Kevin and Neve, who's very involved in the process as well, wanted that to be an element of the story. Whatever we are fearful of in this technological age had to be involved in the story, because we wanna look back on a *Scream 7* film 10 years from now and be able to reflect on how we felt at that time."

*Scream 7* is now playing in theaters.**

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Slasher”