It's a great time to be a horror fan, as the genre's continued renaissance is showing no real signs of slowing down. Some of the best horror movies returned to theaters thanks to new sequels, including Wes Craven's Scream. The last two movies (which are streaming with a Paramount+ subscription) starred Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera as sisters Tara and Sam Carpenter, although they won't be appearing in the upcoming horror movie Scream 7. And now Ortega has broken her silence on Barrera's firing from the franchise.
What we know about Scream 7 is limited, but it won't feature the Carpenter Sisters, despite spending so much time with them in the previous installments. While fans are excited for Neve Campbell's return as Sidney, there are complicated feelings about Carpenters' absence. Barrera's firing was a result of posts she made about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, which some powers at the studio claimed were antisemitic. While speaking with Vanity Fair about her career, the Wednesday actress spoke about her co-star's departure, offering:
The business that we work in is so touchy-feely. Everybody wants to be politically correct, but I feel like, in doing that, we lose a lot of our humanity and integrity, because it lacks honesty. I wish that we had a better sense of conversation. Imagine if everyone could say what they felt and not be judged for it and, if anything, it sparked some sort of debate, not an argument.
There you have it. While she didn't explicitly name any names (including Barrera's), Ortega offered her perspective on her onscreen sibling's firing from Scream after leading the last two movies. And she seems to be musing on an ongoing issue she finds with the industry as a whole.
While she wasn't fired, Jenna Ortega also won't be appearing in Scream 7, with scheduling conflicts being the reason why. This makes sense given the months needed to shoot Wednesday in Romania. Although given how close she and Barrera are, some fans thought her decision might have also been influenced by the In the Heights actress' firing.
With both Ortega and Barrera missing from the next installment, Scream 7 should presumably feel quite different than its predecessors. Neve Campbell has teased that the movie will once again focus on her character Sidney Prescott, who was missing from Scream VI and a supporting presence in the 2022 sequel.
A Scream rumor claimed to reveal how the seventh movie would have handled Tara and Sam's story, and it sounds like a fairly solid idea. Namely that Ortega's character Tara would have been killed off, which would have once again put Sam at conflict with the darkness inside of her. Alas, we'll have to see what the team has up their sleeve for the seventh movie, and which Scream legacy characters return.
Scream 7 doesn't currently have a release date, as it's still being developed. For now, check the 2025 movie release dates.
