Jenna Ortega will not be returning to the Scream franchise, although the decision was made before her fellow actor Melissa Barrera was recently dropped from the next film.
Deadline has reported that Ortega had already agreed not to continue in her role as Tara Carpenter, who she played in 2022’s Scream and sequel Scream VI, earlier in the year, due to her involvement in a number of other projects.
Earlier today (November 22), Melissa Barrera was dropped from Scream VII after writing an Instagram post in support of Palestine.
Following the decision, ‘#BoycottScream7’ began trending on X, with many fans vowing to not see the movie when it is released.
Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega in ‘Scream VI’. CREDIT: Paramount
A number of fans began to call for Ortega to follow Barrera off the project in solidarity.
However, Ortega is due to head to Ireland to film the second season of Netflix hit Wednesday next year, and she is still completing the shooting of the new Beetlejuice film.
In a post on her Instagram Stories, Mexican-born Barrera, who played Sam Carpenter, wrote: “I too come from a colonized country. Palestine WILL be free. They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds.”
In another post, she added: “Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp. Cornering everyone together, with no where to go, no electricity no water. People have learnt nothing from our histories. And just like our histories, people are still silently watching it all happen. THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING.”
Barrera later claimed there was “censorship” in Western media which “only shows the other side” of the conflict from Israel’s perspective.
After Variety reported Barrera had been “quietly dropped” from the franchise, production company Spyglass confirmed she had been let go due to the posts.
“Spyglass’ stance is unequivocally clear: We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech,” the Spyglass statement read.
Christopher Landon, who is set to direct Scream VII, shared a post on X on Tuesday (November 21) regarding the firing, which has since been deleted: “This is my statement: Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make.”
Scream star Neve Campbell previously stepped down from the franchise following a pay dispute, with many of her co-stars supporting her decision.
Scream VII was announced in August, with Landon set to take over directing duties from Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who helmed the fifth and sixth entries.
