Matthew Lillard Is Coming Back for "Scream 7"

Yara Sameh

Matthew Lillard, who played Stuart ‘Stu’ Macher in the first 1996 Scream movie, is returning to the franchise's upcoming seventh installment.

Following the exit of both Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega from the “Scream” franchise after the pair led a duo of series revivals.

The actor joins legacy cast members Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox as well as Scott Foley, Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown, alongside newcomers Isabel May, Celeste O’Connor, Asa Germann, Mckenna Grace, Sam Rechner, Anna Camp, Joel McHale and Mark Consuelos.

Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original “Scream,” will direct this coming installment.

"Scream" launched Lillard’s career out of a canon with the actor continuing on to star in "The Scooby Doo" live-action franchise, "She’s All That", "The Descendants" and the Blumhouse/Universal hit "Five Nights at Freddy’s".

Lillard’s homecoming comes as a bit of a surprise. His character, the stonerish teen Stu Macher, was revealed to be one of two killers in the first “Scream” — a twist that was swiftly followed by Macher being electrocuted to death, his head thrust into a hefty television.

However, an actor returning from the dead isn’t an unprecedented occurrence for the “Scream” franchise.

Skeet Ulrich, who starred in “Scream” as Billy Loomis, the killer in cahoots with Lillard’s Stu, reprised that role in the 2022 “Scream” revival, appearing in a character’s hallucinatory visions.

The long-running horror franchise previously generated four feature films including "Scream" (1996), "Scream 2" (1997), "Scream 3" (2000), and "Scream 4" (2011), directed by the late Wes Craven. It relaunched with the fifth installment, "Scream", in 2022.

The latest outing, "Scream VI", was released theatrically worldwide in March 2023 and holds the franchise record for highest domestic box office gross with more than $108 million and has taken in more than $169 million worldwide. Collectively, the Scream franchise has earned more than $900 million in worldwide box office receipts.

After the success of the 2022 “Scream” revival, producers were quick to turn around “Scream VI,” which was released just 15 months later.

"Scream 7" hits cinemas via Paramount on February 27, 2026.