A Look at the First Trailer for Scream 7

In February, 2026, Ghostface will come back. Ghostface always comes back. And that’s not just a jab at how the villains of slasher films won’t stay dead. It’s a reference to another horror villain that a Scream Alumni has become known for playing in live-action as they might return to the franchise.

Scream 7 Coming Soon!

The day before Halloween, Paramount Pictures surprised everyone by dropping the first trailer for the upcoming Scream 7 film on YouTube, and people are going crazy about it. At last count, the trailer’s pushing close to ten million views as fans are trying to dissect the trailer and look for clues. Since 2026 marks the franchise’s thirtieth anniversary, interest is likely to be at an all-time high. Having reviewed the first three movies recently, I am one of those people invested in what’s happening, and I’ve had some time to think about what’s going on. With that in mind, I feel the need to break down and discuss the trailer, because there’s a lot riding on Scream 7.

Especially since it won’t be continuing the storyline from the last two films.

Ghostface is Back!

The trailer opens up at a location longtime fans should recognize, the former home of Stu Macher. As one of the original pair of Ghostfaces, Stu’s home served as the site of the original film’s climax. In-universe, it’s been turned into a morbid BNB dedicated to the Stab films, complete with merch, Ghostface animatronics, and body outlines showing where Billy died. Unfortunately, the opening couple find themselves the victims of the newest Ghostface. And this one intends to burn everything down, with a later shot showing them burning the Macher house to show they mean business.

The main focus of the trailer, though, is on the people that this Ghostface is hunting: Sydney Prescott, and her daughter, Tatum, played by newcomer Isabel May. She’s moved on with her life and is shown running her own coffeehouse, but it seems that Ghostface can’t take a hint and leave her alone. Thus, it’s up to her, Tatum, and fellow legacy character Gale Weathers to stop this new Ghostface!

And here is where the controversy begins, specifically about the return of Sydney.

What do you Mean, Sam and Tara aren’t Back?

The last two movies, Scream V and Scream VI, were supposed to establish that the franchise was shifting its focus away from Sidney Prescott. Instead, they focused primarily on Sam Carpenter and her sister, Tara, as our new main protagonists. Sam is actually the illegitimate child of Billy Loomis, one of the OG Ghostface pair, and a big part of her arc was dealing with her father’s legacy. Sam acknowledged that she inherited Billy’s violent tendencies, but the last film ended with her presumably learning to channel them to protect her loved ones rather than hurt others. It was a cool premise, and I would have liked to see the films continue exploring her struggle against her inner darkness. Unfortunately, that may not happen, due to reasons that I didn’t even know about until recently.

In November 2023, Sam’s actress, Melissa Barrera, was fired from her role for criticizing Israel about the war in Gaza. That led to Jenna Ortega, who plays Tara Carpenter, to also leave, and two of the four members of the Core Four not appearing. Which bodes ill for the two who are actually returning, as it could lead to them dying at the hands of this new Ghostface. And here is where the problems begin.

Tatum Could Become our New Lead

The whole point of Scream VI was to show that the franchise could continue beyond the legacy characters, and Sam and Tara were good characters. Sydney earned the right to live a happy life, as Gale herself put it. But Melissa’s firing means Skydance had to pull a complete 180, and it could end up derailing the entire franchise. Because as good as Neve Campbell is as Sydney, Gale was right: Sydney deserves her happy ending. But now they have to bring her back to keep the franchise going.

All is not lost, though. If Sam and Tara are not possible at the moment and they can’t keep using Sydney, then the trailer shows us another potential successor in Tatum Evans. Played by Isabel May, Tatum is Sydney’s daughter and named in honor of her best friend, who lost her life in the original film. If Sam and Tara won’t come back and Neve can’t keep up being Sydney, then it looks like Tatum will become our new leading lady. That means that she’ll have to face all the emotional trauma that her mom has tried to put behind her, though, which is not something I would want anyone to deal with. Hopefully, Isabel will up to the task.

The real draw, though, isn’t the return of Sydney, though; it’s Ghostface. And there’s a surprising theory out there that might end up rewriting the entire franchise: Stu Macher might be alive.

Is Stu Macher Alive?

In the original 1996 film, Stu Macher, played by Matthew Lillard, played second fiddle to Billy Loomis, played by Skeet Ulrich. Ironically, Matthew’s career has come to eclipse that of Skeet. He’s played Shaggy Rogers in both live-action and animation, and more recently, he’s played another horror icon as Springtrap in Five Nights at Freddy’s. He pretty much horror royalty at this point. And in the final seconds of the trailer, you can clearly hear his voice, leaving people to wonder if Matt is coming back for round two.

There have been rumors going around for years that Stu somehow survived the events of the first film, something that Matt has likely encouraged. Now, Stu was already bleeding out before Sydney dropped that television on him, but we never saw anyone double-tap him to make sure. We just assumed the blood loss, weight of the television, and getting electrocuted did him in. But what if it hadn’t?

If Stu Macher is coming back, that’s going to raise a lot of questions. How did he survive that night? What has he been doing for the last thirty years. And how has he not gotten caught and left to rot in jail? People need to know these sorts of things! Of course, it’s also possible that the new Ghostface is using an AI voice filter to mess with Sydney, and this is just a big red herring. If it isn’t, though, it would make for a heck of a comeback.

Scream VII is going to have a lot of scrutiny from here on out, and for good reason. This major 180 could either help the franchise continue for a while longer, or it could be the Star Wars Sequels all over again. Either way, this should be interesting, and I’m definitely going to see it in theaters. But what do you guys think? Could Stu really be back? Let us know!