After the franchise fired its modern star Melissa Barrera over posts in support of Palestine, Scream 7 casting seems designed to lure fans back in. Matthew Lillard, who played one of the original Scream villains Stu Macher,

Matthew Lillard, who played Stuart ‘Stu’ Macher in the first 1996 Scream movie, is returning to the franchise for Spyglass/Paramount’s Scream 7.

This line, famously spoken by the character Stu Macher in the original 1996 “Scream” movie, made a momentous new appearance Thursday when actor Matthew Lillard, who played Stu, posted a video on Instagram Thursday teasing a return to the “Scream” franchise after 30 years away.

Ghostface is slashing his way back into theaters in 2026 with "Scream 7," and some previous franchise stars are reportedly making shock returns.

Matthew Lillard, who played Stu, has stayed within the franchise in one way or another. He has appeared and lent his voice to several of the films, but Stu hadn’t made a triumphant villainous return.

In the original 1996 meta-slasher, Lillard played Stu Macher, one of the two sociopathic teens acting as the masked Ghostface killer, alongside Skeet Ulrich's Billy Loomis. Stu se

Matthew Lillard still likes scary movies. The actor, who starred in Wes Craven’s original “Scream” and did not return for future entries considering, well, narrative events, is joining the cast of the franchise’s upcoming seventh installment.