As Scream 7 continues filming, more casting updates are revealed, and with now three dead characters confirmed to return, I’m officially worried about the movie. The Scream saga continues to benefit from the legacy sequels trend with the third (and supposedly final) entry in its reboot timeline. Scream 2022 introduced a new generation of characters facing new Ghostface killers, led by sisters Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega), with legacy characters Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), and Dewey Riley (David Arquette) returning.
Scream 6 continued Sam and Tara’s stories without Sidney and with Gale and Kirby (Hayden Panettiere) as the only legacy characters, but it’s all taking a turn in Scream 7. After Melisa Barrera’s firing and Jenna Ortega dropping out, Scream 7 is now bringing Sidney back as the main character, accompanied one more time by Gale. Scream 7 will focus on Sidney’s family, the prime targets of the new Ghostface killer, but the sequel is bringing some big surprises. Scream 7 is bringing some dead characters back, and after the most recent casting update, I’m worried about this.
Scream 7 Is Now Bringing Back Three Dead Characters
Two Ghostface Killers, One Main Character
Plot details about Scream 7 are still a mystery, but it’s known that the new Ghostface killer will go after Sidney, her husband Mark Evans (Joel McHale), and their kids – and for that, Scream 7 will have a time jump. In addition to Gale, reboot characters Chad (Mason Gooding) and Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown) are returning in Scream 7, but now three dead characters are confirmed to be back. The first announcement was Scott Foley’s return as Roman Bridger, the only Ghostface killer in Scream 3 and Sidney’s half-brother.
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Scream 7: Every Confirmed Returning Character
Scream 7 is set to include several familiar faces from past installments in the franchise, including who many would consider the main character.
Not long after, it was confirmed, after lots of speculation and theories, that Matthew Lillard is coming back as Stu Macher, one of the original Ghostface murderers, alongside Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich). Both Roman and Stu didn’t survive their movies, with Roman being shot in the head by Dewey and Sidney dropping a TV on Stu’s head, electrocuting him to death. Now, Roman and Stu won’t be the only dead characters returning in Scream 7, as Dewey has officially joined the list.
Deadline reported in March 2025 that David Arquette is playing Dewey again in Scream 7, but just like with Roman and Stu, details about his return and place in the story are unknown. As mentioned above, Dewey joined Sidney and Gale during the 2022 Woodsboro murders, but he became the controversial death of the movie. Dewey was stabbed multiple times while confronting Ghostface at the hospital, where he was left to die. As he was a legacy character, Dewey’s death caused strong reactions from fans of the saga.
Scream 7 Risks Being Oversaturated & Messing With The Saga’s Continuity
Scream 7 Is Doing Too Much
So far, the cast of Scream 7 includes Sidney, Mark, their daughter (Isabel May), Gale, Chad, Mindy, Roman, Stu, Dewey, and other cast members in undisclosed roles. However, the three returning dead characters are what make me worry about Scream 7. Having Sidney back is good, and despite giving her a happy ending in Scream 6, her absence was felt. However, bringing three dead characters back feels like the team behind Scream 7 is overcompensating for the absence of Sam and Tara, as well as that of other legacy characters who are still alive.
Stu and Roman have been dead for too long to even try to justify a possible survival, despite there being countless theories on Stu’s survival.
With these three dead characters, Scream 7 is already feeling oversaturated, and it wouldn’t be a problem if they were actually alive. Stu and Roman have been dead for too long to even try to justify a possible survival, despite there being countless theories on Stu’s survival. Dewey’s death scene was too graphic to not be definitive, and it wouldn’t be believable if Dewey was revealed to be alive.
As exciting as it is to have Lillard back in the franchise and see Dewey again (Roman is a divisive Ghostface, so some will hate to see him again, others will love it), Scream 7 is now at risk of messing with the saga’s continuity to fit Roman, Stu, and Dewey, and it will have to be very clever and creative with how it handles their return and involvement in the story.
Why Billy’s Return Worked In The Previous Scream Reboot Movies (But Stu & Roman Might Not)
Billy Loomis Was Brought Back In Scream 2022 & Scream 6
Stu, Roman, and Dewey aren’t the only dead characters who have been brought back in the reboot Scream movies, but their circumstances are completely different. Scream 2022 brought Billy Loomis back as Sam was revealed to be his daughter. On top of that, Sam struggles with an undisclosed mental illness, which gives her hallucinations of her dead father. In these visions, Billy encourages Sam to embrace her dark side and kill, and though this helped her when confronting Richie (Jack Quaid) and Bailey (Dermot Mulroney), Sam never gave in to her “dark nature.”
Sam is the only character with visions, and through her, it would have been easy to bring these characters back.
However, with Sam no longer appearing in Scream 7, bringing Roman, Stu, and Dewey will be hard to explain. Sam is the only character with visions, and through her, it would have been easy to bring these characters back. Giving visions to Sidney or any other character would feel like a cheap decision to justify the return of these characters, and bringing them back in flashbacks would be tricky, as, at least Roman and Stu, would have to be deaged.
How Dewey Can Return In Scream 7 Without Undoing His Death
Sorry, But Dewey Should Remain Dead
The biggest challenge is bringing these characters back without undoing their deaths and without giving other characters unnecessary abilities like visions, whatever their source could be. Even Dewey’s return will be tricky now thanks to the time jump in Scream 7, but there are still a couple of ways it could be done. Dewey could return in a flashback to his final years in Woodsboro or unseen moments in Scream 2022, through which Scream 7 could provide some clues as to who could be going after Sidney and her family now.
It could also be that Scream 7 will kill Gale (for real this time), and the person she would see as she dies would be Dewey.
It has also been theorized that Scream 7 could see Sidney’s death, and these dead characters could appear in a vision as she dies or a montage of key characters in Sidney’s journey. It could also be that Scream 7 will kill Gale (for real this time), and the person she would see as she dies would be Dewey. It’s unknown if more dead characters will be announced to return in Scream 7, but for now, I worry that the movie will be a nonsensical nostalgia fest.
Source: Deadline.
Scream 7
- Release Date
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February 27, 2026
- Director
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Kevin Williamson
- Writers
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Kevin Williamson, Guy Busick, James Vanderbilt
- Producers
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Cathy Konrad, Gary Barber, Marianne Maddalena, Peter Oillataguerre, William Sherak, Chad Villella, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Ron Lynch
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Neve Campbell
Sidney Prescott
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Mason Gooding
Chad Meeks-Martin
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Jasmin Savoy Brown
Mindy Meeks-Martin
