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.