Scream 7 Trailer Keeps Its Biggest Returning Character Off Screen

Scream fans are gonna be so mad at Stu Macher. After Billy Loomis (sort of) returned for the legacy sequels Scream (2022) and Scream VI, the other original Ghostface is set to show up in Scream 7. And yet, while the first trailer for the latest slasher entry features plenty of familiar faces, we don’t see Stu at all.

The most important of those familiar faces is that of Neve Campbell, who is back as final girl Sidney Prescott. Sidney has left Woodsboro for a new town and a new life, complete with her husband Mark (Evans, apparently, played by Joel McHale, and not Patrick Dempsey’s character from Scream 3, Mark Kincaid) and her daughter Tatum (Isabel May), named of course for Rose McGowan’s ill-fated character from the first film. While Ghostface hunts mother and daughter, Sidney gets some help from other recognizable characters, including Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown as siblings Chad and Mindy Meeks-Martin, as well as the ever-present Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox).

Scream 7 also features the metatextual elements that have made the franchise a favorite. At the start of the trailer, we see a pair of influencer-coded young people visiting Sidney’s Woodsboro home, now turned into “the psycho killer B&B,” complete with a motion sensor activated Ghostface.

Less clear is the trailer’s central tease. When Sidney stands up to the Ghostface taunting her on the phone by accusing him of hiding behind a mask and a voice-changer, the killer declares, “I’m not hiding Sidney… Not this time.” But, you know, the killer is hiding. Because they’re wearing a mask. And using a voice changer.

The weird premise isn’t the only thing off about this latest entry in the franchise. Campbell had seemed to pass the torch to sisters Tara and Sam Carpenter (Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera, respectively), who played the daughters of Billy Loomis. But after Barrera expressed support of Palestine, she was fired from the film, which caused Ortega and director Christopher Landon to also exit in solidarity.

In response, Paramount abandoned plans to move forward with the franchise and fell back to recognizable faces and names. Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original film, along with Scream 2 and Scream 4, steps into direct this time, working off of a script he co-wrote with Guy Busick, co-writer of the previous two entries. In addition to bringing back Campbell and Cox (and, if rumors are true, David Arquette as Deputy Dewey, he finally appeared to die in the last film), Scream 7 will feature Scott Foley as Roman Bridger, Sidney’s half-brother introduced in the third film.

But the biggest returning name is that of Stu Macher, who Matthew Lillard memorably brought to life in the first movie. Stu died in the first movie after Sidney dropped a CRT TV on his head, but there were always rumors that he would be back. And the Scream 7 trailer wants to keep Stu’s involvement a rumor, limiting his presence to the last line we hear: “This is gonna be fun,” a phrase he uttered in the first movie.

Will Stu’s return to Scream be fun? We hope so. But it hasn’t happened yet, and we’re so mad about it.

Scream 7 releases to theaters on February 27, 2026.