One of the upcoming horror movies we’re most looking forward to next year is the next Scream installment, which will officially feature a mix of legacy and new stars. On top of word that Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott, Courteney Cox’s Gale Weathers and David Arquette’s Dewey Riley are back in the scary movie series, Matthew Lillard's Stu is another big return. When the actor recalled getting the call to reprise his role, he shared the funny answer why the character has been benched so many Scream movies.
Why Did It Take So Long For Matthew Lillard To Return To Scream?
In a new interview with Us Magazine, Lillard happily reported that Scream 7 is “smart” and has a "familiarity" to the original film because the first movie’s writer, Kevin Williamson, is directing it. The actor also revealed this funny story:
When I got [Kevin] on the phone that day, I was like, ‘You’re such a jerk. You said I was never coming back. He was like, ‘Yeah, because you kept arguing to come back, and I was trying to distract everyone.
Now this is too good. If you’ve been following the Scream franchise over the years, you probably know that there have been a lot of theories pointing to Lillard’s Stu being alive, but another Scream movie has yet to explore it. How hilarious is it that Lillard and the fans actually wanting him to come back actually might have hurt his chances?
Matthew Lillard Has Been Claiming Stu Is Alive For Ages
See, Lillard has always been a fan-favorite in the Scream films. The actor said earlier this year that he’s been asked “literally 1,000 times a day since the first movie” if his character might return. And, oftentimes the actor has publicly said over the years that he thinks Stu has been alive all along and never actually died at the end of the first movie. Finally, three decades after the first movie came out, fans will finally get an answer. Here’s what Lillard said about his reaction to finally being asked back:
I was giddy. I was freaking out. I had been sort of tongue-in-cheek pushing the fact that Stu’s still alive, he went to prison. Like, I’ll go get superhero jacked like [I’ve] been in prison for the last 20 years. And, you know, the Radio Silence [Productions] guys left a lot of breadcrumbs in the movies that Stu was still out there.
Scream 7 is the third movie in the franchise from Radio Silence Productions, which has had James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick penning the scripts and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett directing. This time Busick is behind the script and Kevin Williamson is directing after writing the original movie and the fourth film.
Along with original Scream cast members Campbell, Cox, Arquette and Lillard being in the movie, Mason Gooding, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Scott Foley are returning. Joel McHale, Anna Camp, Mckenna Grace and Celeste O’Connor are among the new cast members who have been announced. The movie hits theaters on February 26, 2026.
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