Spoiler Alert: The following contains major spoilers for Scream 7.
Director Kevin Williamson assembled a full franchise reunion in Scream 7 with multiple returning characters, most of which were relegated to cameo appearances in the slasher’s deepfake denouement, including Laurie Metcalf as Nancy Loomis, Scott Foley as Roman Bridger, and David Arquette as Dewey Riley.
At the forefront was the long-awaited return of Stu Macher, one of the original Ghostface killers played memorably by Matthew Lillard.
Scream 7 sets up the possibility that Stu is alive and back for vengeance against Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and her loved ones, only for a killer reveal exposing the real identities hiding beneath AI technology that uses Sidney’s past to torment her.
Williamson previously stated that they’d shot an alternate ending that featured the real Stu, but this was excised from the final cut when audiences rejected this alternate ending in test screenings.
Matthew Lillard elaborated on this at the recent FAN EXPO Denver panel, reported by ScreenRant, including the new detail that the alternate ending was more of a post-credit stinger that sees Stu alive and well, watching TV during the events of Scream 7.
No one has fought harder to resurrect Stu Macher from his seemingly definitive fate at the end of the original Scream than Lillard, and his breakdown of why this scene didn’t land with test screeners suggests that the door may still be ajar for an actual franchise return, though Scream 7‘s final cut seems to imply that Stu didn’t survive.
“[I told Kevin Williamson], we spent the entire movie proving that Stu is alive, and then if he doesn’t come out that door people are going to be bummed,” Lillard explains. “So, what we should do, is we should shoot a post-credit sequence where it’s just Stu watching TV somewhere, alive. Yeah, we shot it. I will say, when they showed it [to test audiences], they showed it without credits. So, they go to the end and then they show me in a reflection watching TV, and it didn’t work.”
Lillard continues, “So, it didn’t work because they didn’t test it right, but I think it would have been completely [different with the credits].”
That Scream 7 was a box office hit means that a sequel is inevitable; should Stu return?
Scream 7 is now streaming on Paramount+ before heading to physical media on June 16 via Paramount.