Movies
‘Scream’ Star Matthew Lillard Would Happily Return for Upcoming Sequel
Spoiler alert (come on, the movie came out almost 25 years ago), but the big twist in Wes Craven‘s iconic suburban slasher Scream was that there were two killers, one being Matthew Lillard‘s hysterical Stu Macher.
The other killer was Sidney Prescott’s (Neve Campbell) boyfriend, Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), who stabs his best friend-turned-accomplice repeatedly in an attempt to create deniability and an alibi. Loomis, being an actual psychopath, stabs him more than originally planned, leaving Stu bleeding to death – Sidney then finishes him off by dropping a TV on his head.
It’s assumed he’s dead, since he’s never appeared in any of the series sequels, but what if Stu were to return in Scream 5?
Speaking with TooFab, Matthew Lillard said he’d jump at the chance to reprise his role … but isn’t holding his breath.
“Yes, yes, I’m available, yes, yes!” he exclaimed when asked if he’d be interested in coming back, should he ever be offered the chance.
“Yes, obviously. That’s like Stacey Abrams openly campaigning for the vice presidency,” he joked. “There’s nobody that wouldn’t want to come back and reprise a role they got to do when they were a boy and be able to do something different as a man would be exciting. You just don’t get that opportunity often.”
One of the coolest aspects of the Scream series is that they have all remained canon and several key cast members have appeared in them all. In that sense, it wouldn’t be that crazy to see Stu make a return. However, would that undo the absolutely perfect finale in Craven’s masterpiece? Lillard had previously revealed that the original plans for Scream 3 were that Stu had survived and had been pulling the strings from prison, so who knows if the next Scream will travel down a similar path – Stu could always, at the very least, return in a flashback.
The fifth Scream is this time to be directed by V/H/S, Southbound and Ready or Not duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett of Radio Silence, and Neve Campbell has openly admitted that she’s had discussions about playing Sidney Prescott one more time.
Lillard knows that Campbell is protective of Craven’s legacy and wouldn’t do it unless it felt right.
“I guarantee you Neve is a voracious protector of Wes like nobody else,” he noted in the TooFab chat. “She won’t do it unless there’s a really clear idea that she’s excited about.”
Watch this spot for official news as it comes in.
From director Sébastien Vaniček, Evil Dead Burn releases in theaters July 10, but that’s just one of two brand new Evil Dead movies releasing in the next two years.
Evil Dead Wrath recently wrapped production, with the upcoming film from director Francis Galluppi (The Last Stop in Yuma County) set for theatrical release on April 7, 2028.
We’ve known virtually nothing about the movie up to this point, but a recent interview with producer Rob Tapert has surfaced this week (thanks, Dread Central) and it reveals a very surprising bit of information about Evil Dead Wrath. The film is set in 1972!!
Tapert told the students at Michigan State University during a chat, “Evil Dead Wrath is yet another great departure. It predates everything. It takes place in 1972.”
That means Evil Dead Wrath takes place even before the arrival of Ash Williams and friends to that infamous cabin in the woods, which should give the film a whole new kind of flavor.
Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness was of course set in the Middle Ages, but Evil Dead Wrath will take place chronologically before Ash Williams was transported into medieval times!
“It will feel like a 1972 movie because the director and his DP want to imitate the film’s look and feel of something that’s called Ektachrome 100, which was a film stock,” Tapert notes. “Still available. A lot of movies shot on back then. And so it’s very warm, very tungsten.”
Tapert calls Wrath “very Tarantino-esque, very deliberate. [Galluppi] made a movie, not a horror movie, that I liked a great deal called Last Stop in Yuma County. It’s worth looking up.”
The Last Stop in Yuma County, it’s interesting to note, is also set in the 1970s!
Charlotte Hope (The Nun), Jessica McNamee (Mortal Kombat), Zach Gilford (“Midnight Mass”), Josh Helman (Mad Max: Fury Road), Ella Newton (Dangerous Animals), Elizabeth Cullen (Diabolic), and Ella Oliphant will star in Evil Dead Wrath.
Evil Dead creator Sam Raimi and franchise producer Rob Tapert are producing. Bruce Campbell and Lee Cronin will executive produce alongside Romel Adam and Jose Canas.