Scream 7’s Original Story Idea Teased By Departed Directors: “Going To F**k You Up”

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almost looked very different.

As a huge fan of the Scream movies, I was really excited when Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett took over in 2022 with the new Scream. They seemed to breathe fresh life into Ghostface and the whole franchise! Their next film, Scream 6 in 2023, did incredibly well, but it looks like they’ve moved on to other projects. The directing duo, who are part of the filmmaking group Radio Silence, decided to make Abigail instead, which came out this year as well.

In an interview with EW, directors Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett shared that they had initial ideas for Scream 7 before shifting their focus. They hadn’t started working with writers yet, but they described a movie that would have been significantly darker and more intense than previous installments. Bettinelli-Olpin elaborated on these early concepts.

We didn’t actually read a script for Scream 7 before we started working on Abigail. Our idea for the next Scream movie was to really push the boundaries and make it much darker than Scream VI. We often discussed how far we could take it. We envisioned Scream 7 being a truly disturbing experience, especially compared to what we felt was the surprisingly upbeat tone of Scream VI. That was the furthest we ever developed the concept.

Gillett explained their vision for the film would have been smaller in scale and more focused than Scream 6, which took place across a larger area in New York City.

After deciding to broaden the story’s setting with a trip to New York, Matt and I—just the two of us, not the whole writing team—discussed doing the opposite for season 7. We envisioned making it much smaller in scale, a very focused story unfolding in almost real-time. However, beyond that initial idea of ours, we didn’t know anything about any larger plans for a continuation of the show.

The recent Scream movies, released in 2022 and 2023, were both popular with critics and audiences. These films, directed by Radio Silence, featured several new characters, most notably sisters Sam and Tara Carpenter, played by Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, and were intended to be the future of the Scream series.

When the directors of Abigail chose to focus on that film instead of another Scream movie, Christopher Landon was hired to continue the story of the Carpenter sisters. However, plans for Scream 7 fell through after Jenna Ortega couldn’t commit due to her schedule, and Melissa Barrera was let go following controversial social media posts about the Israel-Hamas conflict. Ultimately, Landon also left the project.

The film took another turn when Kevin Williamson, the original screenwriter of Scream, came back to write and direct the seventh movie. Neve Campbell also returned as Sidney Prescott, having previously sat out the last film due to a disagreement over salary. This time, she’ll be facing a new Ghostface who is targeting her daughter.

Critics haven’t been kind to Scream 7, giving it a low 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This makes it the worst-reviewed movie in the entire Scream series, falling far behind the scores of the previous two films, which were both around 77%.

Considering how the previous two Scream movies were received, the original version planned by directors Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett might have been better liked by critics. However, the new Scream film written by Williamson is expected to be a box office success, potentially earning over $60 million in its opening weekend – a new record for the series.

A new Scream movie, the eighth installment, is planned, but the directors of the previous films, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett, aren’t currently involved. They’re currently working on Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, which will be released on March 20th. While their ideas for Scream 7 won’t be used, they would have significantly changed the direction of the series.

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2026-02-28 20:44