The death of the Scream series persists. As announced yesterday, Jenna Ortega will not be in the latest addition to the horror movie series, Scream VII. This comes one day after Spyglass fired star Melissa Barrera. The franchise's fate is now up in the air as it has lost the two key actors who helped bring the property to life. Christopher Landon remains on board as director, at least for now. But what would happen next with Spyglass remains unclear.

Sources say that Ortega's leaving has nothing in common with the leaving of Barrera, who was given her cards for posting too much about the war between Israel and Hamas on social media. Sources say Ortega's managers told Spyglass, before the actors' strike, that the actress—one of the biggest new stars in Hollywood in the last ten years—wasn't coming back.

Several people say that the actress either didn't ask for the deal or asked for the amount, which was too big when she was renegotiating her option. Spyglass turned down a request from Neve Campbell to return to the series because she wanted a big pay raise for Scream VI. Campbell will say later, "I felt undervalued and couldn't walk on set."

 

Barrera and Ortega played subgenre sisters from next year's Scream. Soon after that movie was released, Ortega became a major star via her work on the Netflix hit Wednesday. Key to the Scream series as well.

In the 2022 film Scream, young actors like Barrera and Ortega have been brought along with old actors Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette to change shows. It grossed $137.7 million around the world. The New York-set Scream VI grossed more than $168.9 million around the world.