Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Scream 7, currently in cinemas.
While Scream 7 promised to reboot the Scream franchise with a whole new generation of characters, the sequel’s shocking deaths ensured that the series will do nothing of the sort any time soon. Scream 7’s ending proves that, the more things change in the franchise’s story, the more they stay the same.
All the Scream movies offer their own unique spins on the meta-slasher premise of the series, with 2011’s Scream 4 being a more light-hearted sequel while 2022’s Scream is a particularly grim, dark chapter. However, director Kevin Williamson’s Scream 7 was always guaranteed to be different thanks to its messy history.
When the sequel was first announced, it was set to follow Scream 2022 and Scream 6 heroines Sam and Tara, picking up after the events of Scream 6. However, when Melissa Barrera was fired for voicing her opinion, and Ortega left the franchise immediately afterward, Scream 7’s entire story was retooled to center on Sidney’s return instead.
Scream 7 Kills Off All But One Of Its New Young Characters
Throughout the promotion and marketing of Scream 7, the movie was touted as a reinvention of the franchise that would introduce a slew of new characters for viewers to get to know and love. There was McKenna Grace’s Hannah, a high school theater star and close friend of Sidney’s teenage daughter, Tatum.
There was Asa Germann’s Lucas, a nerdy true crime obsessive with shades of both Randy and Scream 4’s Charlie, and Celeste O’Connor’s Chloe, a bubbly newcomer with a secret crush on Lucas. Sam Rechner’s Ben was a typically opaque love interest for Tatum, one who could have been as lethal as Scream’s Billy or as innocent as Scream 2’s Derek.
Even the older generation of characters got some injections of fresh blood. Riverdale’s Mark Consuelos played a local TV host who hopes to scoop Gale Weathers on the latest Ghostface massacre, while Veep veteran Tim Simons played Tatum’s suspiciously intense drama teacher, George Willis.
However, anyone who got invested in this diverse array of new characters was in for a serious disappointment. Only one of the new generation of young stars survives, and it is Sidney’s daughter. This means that, while Isabel May’s Tatum is an appealing screen presence, her character arc is more of an extension of Sidney’s story than an original, separate plot.
Scream 7’s New Character Deaths Make Its Future Much More Unpredictable
Of all of Scream 7’s spoilers, this is perhaps the one that has the biggest potential impact on the future of the series. When characters like Hannah, Chloe, Lucas, and Ben were first introduced, it seemed as if they would naturally come to replace the first generation’s stars like Sidney, Gale, and the late Dewey and Randy.
After all, Scream 2022 and Scream 6 both focused not just on Sam and Tara, but also on their friends Chad and Mindy Meeks-Martin. These supporting characters were so central to the two reboot movies that they even returned in supporting roles in Scream 7, so, naturally, it seemed like Scream 7’s new characters would earn the same fate.
Furthermore, Scream 7’s new characters had plenty of potential. Lucas’s true crime obsession made him a Gen Alpha Randy equivalent, Chloe’s unlikely crush on him was a genuinely surprising twist, Ben’s supportive persona was a subversive twist on the “It’s always the boyfriend” maxim, and Hannah was a funny, appealing stand-in for Scream’s original Tatum.
However, not only were all of these characters killed off before they could become main characters in their own right, but Scream 7 also proved reticent about killing off any of its existing cast members. Sidney survives, so clearly Tatum isn’t simply taking her mother’s place in the next sequel.
Scream 7’s Returning Characters Complicate The Franchise’s Future
However, none of Tatum’s friends made it out alive, meaning there are no new characters to join the core cast in Scream 8. This leads to the inevitable question of whether Sidney’s husband Mark, Sidney herself, and Tatum will all be in future movies, or if some of them will simply sit things out offscreen, as Sidney and Mark’s other two children did in Scream 7.
Meanwhile, if Scream 8’s story hopes to bring back Chad, Mindy, and Gale as well, that would have a lot of death-proof characters for an ostensibly dark, edgy slasher series. A $100 million opening weekend means there will be another generation of Scream movies, but the franchise will still be following the same indestructible characters as it was 30 years ago.
All 26 Scream Franchise Easter Eggs & References In Scream 7
Scream 7 cleverly uses Easter eggs to call back to previous movies, rewarding longtime fans with subtle plot points and thrilling references.
This is particularly surprising considering the star power of the movie’s jettisoned new characters. Grace and O’Connor are both blockbuster stars thanks to the Ghostbusters reboots, but their characters can’t become the new Randy and Dewey (or even Chad and Mindy) since Scream 7 made the strange decision to prioritize returning Scream franchise characters over new stars.
- Release Date
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February 27, 2026
- Runtime
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114 Minutes
- Director
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Kevin Williamson
- Writers
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Kevin Williamson, Guy Busick, James Vanderbilt
- Producers
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William Sherak, Paul Neinstein