Two years after Melissa Barrera‘s unceremonious ousting from the Scream franchise, one star revealed he won’t appear in the next slasher installment either.
Despite multiple franchise alums set to reprise their roles, Skeet Ulrich recently explained that he’s “not involved” with Scream 7 after Barrera was fired, noting that his character Billy Loomis was connected to her character Sam Carpenter’s storyline.
“I’m not involved. I’m really excited though,” he told the New York Post. “I’m excited for [original Scream (1996) writer] Kevin Williamson to take the helm and to see what the mastermind of it all comes up with. I have no clue.”
Ulrich added, “I used to know because part of coming back for five and six was being a part of seven. It was a three-picture arc for Billy Loomis, or the imagination of Billy Loomis in Melissa Barrera‘s character’s head. But when all that went down with her, obviously you lose her and you lose what’s in her head.”
After he and Matthew Lillard‘s Stu Macher were unmasked as the Ghostface killers in the first Scream, Ulrich reprised his role as Billy in the Scream (2022) and Scream VI (2023), as a ghostly vision who visits his illegitimate daughter Sam (Barrera).
Skeet Ulrich and Neve Campbell in ‘Scream’ (1996)
Before Barrera’s firing, Ulrich noted he was privy to the original plot for Scream 7, which included both of their characters, and it “was really, really interesting.”
As for the possibility of returning for a future sequel, Ulrich said, “I don’t know how, given the set up. But, you know, it’s horror. And I think the great thing about Scream in general was it was all based in reality that this could happen. You don’t know who as you’re walking down the street could be a killer or not. So I hope if it does, it doesn’t get so far fetched that it blows that premise.”
Spyglass fired Barrera in November 2023 over her social media posts in support of Palestine, explaining the company has “zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech.”
Following her ousting, Jenna Ortega also exited the franchise, later noting that the sequel “was all kind of falling apart” without Barrera to play its new ‘final girl’ Sam Carpenter.
Set to hit theaters on Feb. 27, 2026, Scream 7 features returning stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Scott Foley, Matthew Lillard, Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding, as well as newcomers Joel McHale, Isabel May, Celeste O’Connor, Asa Germann, Mckenna Grace, Sam Rechner, Michelle Randolph, Jimmy Tatro, Anna Camp, Mark Consuelos and Ethan Embry.