Jenna Ortega will no longer star in Scream 7. The news of her exit comes a day after Spyglass Media Group, the company behind the newest Scream movies announced it had fired Melissa Barrera, who starred as Sam Carpenter in Scream 5 & 6.
Barrera was fired for what the company called, in a statement to Variety. “antisemitism” and “the incitement of hate” including “false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech.”
Ortega had starred alongside Barrera as Tara Carpenter, her on-screen sister in the last two Scream movies. Though no deal had been inked for her to return for Scream 7, both she and Barrera had been widely expected to return to the roles in some capacity.
Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that Ortega’s departure from Scream 7 had nothing to do with Barrera’s firing, but the announcement comes right on the heels of Barrera’s shocking exit. Deadline similarly reported Ortega’s departure was due to scheduling issues. According to IMDb, all of her upcoming projects have already entered post-production with Wednesday season 2 not expected to start until April 2024.
The departures of both Barrera and Ortega from Scream 7 will set the upcoming sequel for a major overhaul.
Fan reactions to Ortega have been mixed, with some people refusing to believe it has anything to do with scheduling conflicts.
Others celebrated Latina solidarity.
Some thanked Ortega for helping introduce Scream to a new generation.
And others said that, in the end, the movies ended perfectly. There is no need for more.