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Scream 7 recently lost its top stars Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega. The whole situation got an intriguing twist with a recent update.
A whole big mess
When Ortega left the project, scheduling conflicts were cited as the reason. However, The Hollywood Reporter is now stating that Ortega was looking for a bump in her contract. In the fifth and sixth Scream films, Ortega was paid a six-figure salary. To return for the seventh, she wanted to get into the seven-figure range.
Spyglass' Gary Barber reportedly didn't match that. And Ortega never had a deal in place for Scream 7. He's the head of the same studio that allowed franchise star Neve Campbell to walk away after the fifth film after lowballing her with a contract.
In The Hollywood Reporter's article, they state that the seventh Scream film was initially thought to be the end of a trilogy focused on Sam and Tara Carpenter. Barrera and Ortega play the two sisters. Now that both are gone, where does the franchise go?
For Barrera, she was reportedly fired well before the reports hit the trades. The Hollywood Reporter claims sources say that the firing came a month earlier than reported, at the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war. This was due to Barrera becoming “increasingly vocal.” Prior to her firing, she did come to terms on an agreement to return in the seventh film.
Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega were positioned as the cornerstones of the new-age Scream series. Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown were also members of this new cast. Barrera will team with Radio Silence's Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett once again for their untitled Universal Monsters film. Ortega, meanwhile, will star in Beetlejuice 2, Death of a Unicorn, and Wednesday Season 2.
