‘Scream 7’ Fires Melissa Barrera

The Big Picture

• Melissa Barrera has been fired from Scream 7 due to her pro-Palestine stance, casting a shadow on the future of the film.
• Barrera’s character, Sam Carpenter, is an integral part of the story, and her departure leaves a missing piece in the puzzle for fans.
• With Christopher Landon taking over as director, bringing back Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott becomes even more important for the continuation of the franchise.

Scream franchise star Melissa Barrera has been fired from the production of the seventh installment following her pro-Palestine stance, THR confirms. Barrera has played the role of Sam Carpenter since the franchise was rebooted by directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett with 2022’s Scream. The news comes just one month after the actress, who has also appeared in the Starz series Vida and the big-screen adaptation of In the Heights, shared her feelings about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine.

In her Instagram story, the Mexican actress reflected on her experience of being from “a colonized country,” saying “Palestine WILL be free.” Throughout the post, the actress explains that she spent time researching “information about the Palestinian side for the last 2 weeks or so,” hoping to show her followers a different side than “Western media” has revealed. Speaking about the struggles she had with finding accounts of those from Palestine, Barrera says that her algorithm only pointed her in the direction of news from the “Israeli side,” with the star adding, “Censorship is very real,” before ending her set of stories with a video of a pro-Palestine march, captioning it, “There are marches like this all around the world. The world is awake.”

With Barrera’s departure from Scream 7, the film could find itself in hot water. Starring alongside Jenna Ortega as a pair of sisters who find themselves caught up in Woodsboro’s dark history in Scream, Barrera’s Sam Carpenter is now an ingrained part of the story. While the movie could go on with Ortega’s Tara Carpenter, Jasmin Savoy-Brown’s Mindy Meeks, and Mason Gooding’s Chad Meeks (aka the Core Four), removing Barrera casts a shadow on what’s to come from the next installment. Many fans have been wondering if Sam would pick up Ghostface’s blade as she’s the daughter of one of the original killers, Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich). Furthermore, as a dedicated sister and mother figure to her younger sibling Tara, Sam would be a big missing piece of the puzzle.

What Do We Know About ‘Scream 7’?

While Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett rebooted the Wes Craven-created franchise back in 2022, the duo stepped down following two successful films, allowing space for a new director to lend their vision. Filling in that open spot is Christopher Landon who is best known for his work behind the Happy Death Day franchise. Now that Barrera has been removed from the project, the team might want to try even harder to bring back Neve Campbell as everyone’s favorite final girl, Sidney Prescott. Though she appeared in the first five installments, Campbell sat out of Scream VI due to failed payment negotiations.

Scream 7 does not yet have a release date. Stay tuned at Collider for further updates.

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