Warning! This article will contain major spoilers for the ending of Scream 7.
The most recent installment of the Scream franchise resurrected fan-favorite character Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard). Despite having been seemingly killed off in 1996’s Scream after his first attempt to kill Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) alongside friend Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich). In the 7th film, he returns with other casualties via AI technology, through menacing phone calls to Sidney.
Lillard has been championing a return to the franchise almost as hard as fans have. During Fan Expo in Denver, he revealed that an alternate ending left the door open for more Stu. In test screenings, Scream 7 had an ending that showed his character was really alive the entire time.
“[I told writer/director Kevin Williamson], we spent the entire movie proving that Stu is alive, and then if he doesn’t come out that door people are going to be bummed. So, what we should do, is we should shoot a post-credit sequence where it’s just Stu watching TV somewhere, alive. Yeah, we shot it. I will say, when they showed it [to test audiences], they showed it without credits. So, they go to the end and then they show me in a reflection watching TV, and it didn’t work…So, it didn’t work because they didn’t test it right, but I think it would have been completely [different with the credits],” he said.
Lillard in Scream 7
There was certainly a lot of excitement and confusion when Lillard and David Arquette, who plays the undoubtedly dead Dewey, were announced to be returning. Very few guessed the plot would center on resurrecting dead characters like Roman Bridger (Scott Foley) and Nancy Loomis (Laurie Metcalf) with technology to -torment Sydney.
Scream 7’s dialogue also seems to back up that Stu is, in fact, dead. A decision that upset many long-time fans. Not just because he’s a beloved character, but because they felt played. If this ending had been executed well, there is a chance they could have saved some face. But as it stands, the newest Scream film is the lowest rated for the entire franchise, including Scream 3.
We’ll see if Scream 8 fares better for the quickly bloating franchise.
