“How did we get here?”: After Jenna Ortega Exit, Scream Fans Get an Early Christmas Gift They Would Rather Die Than Open

SUMMARY

• The seventh installment in Scream franchise, Scream VII was doomed after the removal of Melissa Barrera.
• With actress Jenna Ortega and director Christopher Landon leaving the project, fans are sure that the movie is scrapped.
• The screenwriters are now assigned to start from scratch.

With 2023’s Scream VI success, fans were sure this was just the beginning for the franchise. The film was a massive success, financially as well as critically but things quickly took a turn as the franchise is now doomed. In August 2023, a seventh film was announced with Christopher Landon as the director, but the production was halted due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA strike.

Jenna Ortega in Scream VI

The troubles began in November 2023 when Melissa Barrera was fired from the film for social media posts in support of Palestine during the 2023 Israel-Hamas war. Shortly after that, it was announced that Jenna Ortega was not returning due to scheduling conflicts with filming the Netflix series Wednesday. Not just that, Christopher Landon announced on last week that he is no longer associated with the sequel. As a result, the franchise is now expected to go through a reboot.

Also read: “It was a dream job that turned into a nightmare”: Scream 7 Director Departs Project After Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera’s Exit in Surprise Move

Fans believe it is the end of the Scream franchise

Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega in Scream V

2023 was a great year for the Scream franchise and thanks to the success of Scream VI, the seventh installment in the Scream franchise, Scream VII. Director Christopher Landon was all set to direct the film but it was interrupted by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA strike.

Things were under control until actress Melissa Barrera was fired for posting social media posts in support of Palestine during the 2023 Israel-Hamas war. Following, Barrera’s removal, actress Jenna Ortega also announced that she would not return due to scheduling conflicts. Many sources later claimed that Ortega left the project due to a salary dispute with Spyglass Media Group. On 23rd December, Christopher Landon announced that he had also left the project.

Also read: Spyglass Tried to Have a Meeting With Melissa Barrera After Huge Fan Backlash Over Her Firing From Scream 7 (Reports)

What’s next for the Scream franchise?

Jenna Ortega in Scream VI

With Landon out, screenwriters Guy Busick and James Vanderbilt are now tasked with “starting from scratch.” Fans believe that the franchise will go through a reboot but will it meet the expectations set by Scream VI?

There was literally a SCREAM movie THIS year. It got good reviews and was the highest grossing domestically in the series. Now the franchise might be ending just as it was getting started again. How did we get here?

— Adam Klay (@AKlay19) December 23, 2023

Maybe this incarnation but they will work to make another one sooner rather than later. The character is bigger than the actors or the creators. Also as you mentioned, money.

— Pete (@Peterg_TMT) December 24, 2023

Blame the studio for firing the lead actress 👍 completely unjustified 😬

— Lyle Plato (@lyle_plato) December 24, 2023

It might be a good thing to just hit pause for a few years. Yearly sequels seem a bit unnecessary. My hope is that they take some time to breathe, change the suits involved who fired Melissa, bring back everyone once things have reset.

— Blake Morrow (@ShootBlake) December 24, 2023

Lots of social media drama is the start of the fall. Maybe it’s time for a full reboot again. New director. New stars. No connection to the original.

— Paul Douglas Moomjean 🧢 (@themoomabides) December 24, 2023

Politics has poisoned cinema industry, that is what happened.

— Chri in the Fortress of Solitude (@chriwankenobi) December 24, 2023

Scream VI received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $169 million at the global box office, becoming the first installment in the franchise to earn over $100 million at the domestic US box office since Scream 2 (1997) and the highest-grossing Scream film in the United States and Canada.

Written by Farhan Asif

With over 2 years of experience in content writing, Farhan Asif is a seasoned writer at FandomWire where he specializes in bringing the latest news and insights from the world of entertainment and gaming to readers around the world. With over 700 published articles for FandomWire, he has also written more than 750 articles for AnimatedTimes. Apart from this, he has a passion for coding and is pursuing a degree in computer science. During his free time, Farhan loves to play video games and hopes to create a video game of his own one day.