Matthew Lillard Addresses His Future With The 'Scream' Franchise

Matthew Lillard, who portrays Stu in the 'Scream'franchise, has revealed if he plans on returning for the upcoming film, 'Scream VII'.

For 27 years, fans of the franchise have debated whether Stu Macher, one of the Ghostface killers, actually died in the first 'Scream' movie. Although this still has not been confirmed, in the past, Lillard has made it very clear that he would be on board to reprise his role as Stu Macher, but only if the producers could come up with a good enough storyline.

More recently, Matthew Lillard, who has been busy with his film, 'Five Nights At Freddy's', spoke out about 'Scream VII' specifically -- and for those Stu lovers, it seems they may have to wait longer to see the actor reprise his role.

When speaking to Entertainment Tonight on whether he will be starring in 'Scream VII', Lillard said, "I don’t think so. I don’t think so. I mean, look, with what they're going through right now, I have no idea where that goes. If there’s a world where it makes sense, then sure. I mean, they keep mentioning it, they keep tip-toeing around the outside."

Lillard is not the only 'Scream' alum to confirm he won't be returning for the seventh installment as earlier this year, Neve Campbell revealed that she would not be appearing in the sixth movie due to contract negotiations, meaning she more than likely won't be returning for 'Scream VII' either.

“Sadly I won’t be making the next Scream film” due to a contract dispute, Campbell confirmed. “As a woman, I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream,” she said, adding, “I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise.”

Matthew Lillard supported his 'Scream' co-star's decision to back out, telling PEOPLE, “Did Tom Cruise take less money for [Top Gun: Maverick]? F— no, dude. So, why is a woman supposed to take less? Why wouldn’t you pay her more as the series goes on?” Lillard asked.

“Was Scream 5 a hit or not a hit? It was a smash hit. Did they make a s— ton of money?” he asked. “Yes.”

“Should Neve Campbell be paid for the work she’s done in five movies of a franchise? Yes, because she’s a female lead of one of the most successful horror franchises,” Lillard added.

After Melissa Barrera was fired from “Scream VII” for her stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict, Jenna Ortega announced she would not be returning to the franchise due to filming conflict with “Wednesday” season 2.

Barrera made a post on her Instagram Stories, which read, “Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp. Cornering everyone together, with nowhere to go, no electricity no water … People have learnt nothing from our histories. And just like our histories, people are still silently watching it all happen. THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING.”

Spyglass, the company behind “Scream VII”, issued a statement following Barrera’s firing, which read, “We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech.”

The “Scream VII” director, Christopher Landon, also posted a statement on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which read, “This is my statement: Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make.” He later deleted the statement from social media.

Jenna Ortega has yet to comment on the backing out of “Scream VII” or the firing of her “Scream” co-star. Ortega and Barrera played sisters Tara and Sam Carpenter, respectively, in the 2022 film “Scream” and reprised those roles in “Scream VI.”