Ghostface Is Burning Down the Past in First Trailer for Scream 7

Just in time for Halloween, and fortuitously only a day after we just published a ranking of the entire Scream series to date, we have been unexpectedly blessed with our first full-on glimpse of the upcoming Scream 7. Wes Craven’s pioneering slasher meta-series has steered itself into some strange territory following the excellent 2022 Scream reboot and the more lax 2023 follow-up, losing several of its core cast members and creative team, which has led to much speculation about what kind of stance Scream 7 might take, now back in the hands of original writer Kevin Williamson as director. The newly released first trailer, which you can view below, at least begins to embark on the quest to provide some of the answers. Unrelated: It really must be noted, that with the two most recent entries in the series being titled Scream 6 and Scream 7, the decision to call the 2022 reboot of the series merely Scream instead of Scream 5 feels particularly pointless in retrospect.

The development of Scream 7 was hamstrung, to some degree, by drama unfolding on the production side of things, as lead actress Melissa Barrera was excommunicated from the series over her support of Palestine near the beginning of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and co-star Jenna Ortega departed soon thereafter. Considering that these two, playing sisters Sam and Tara Carpenter, were the most important and central part of the so-called “Core Four” characters of the 2022 and 2023 films, this left an obvious hole to fill–two entire films’ worth of character development may be in the process of being discarded here, most notably the seemingly growing psychopathy of Samantha Carpenter, the secret daughter of original Scream killer Billy Loomis. Screenwriter Guy Busick seemingly responded by mashing the emergency Sidney Prescott Button, bringing Neve Campbell back to the franchise for Scream 7 after she had seemingly, finally bowed out. We have long argued that the biggest problem with the concept of modern Scream films are their inability to discard and move beyond these legacy characters. Now, with a change in directorial team and lead, but the return of some of the supporting characters from the last two films (most notably Chad and Mindy Meeks-Martin, the other two of the “Core Four”), Scream 7 will look to strike some kind of truce between its past and its more recent entries. As the official synopsis puts it:

When a new Ghostface killer emerges in the quiet town where Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) has built a new life, her darkest fears are realized as her daughter (Isabel May) becomes the next target. Determined to protect her family, Sidney must face the horrors of her past to put an end to the bloodshed once and for all.

There’s a lot to note in this trailer: For one thing, Sidney apparently named her daughter “Tatum” after her dead friend from the original film, who was memorably played by Rose McGowan. Fans will also note that her husband is one “Mark Evans,” played by Joel McHale, which means that Sidney did not marry Scream 3‘s Mark Kincaid, who was played by Patrick Dempsey. As one would expect, the trailer is packed with various meta references, such as the house of Stu Macher having apparently now been turned into a museum to the Stab series–this scene looks very much like a traditional “kill that starts a Scream movie,” if you ask us. Ghostface is likewise seen burning down the abode, which one would have to think can only be interpreted as a statement of intent on Williamson’s part. Whether or not he actually does intend to reinvent the series, he at least wants to suggest that this is his intention.

Notably not appearing in the trailer are some of the various names that have been confirmed for the film in roles that are entirely mysterious, including Matthew Lillard, Scott Foley and David Arquette. What do they all share in common? Well, they all played characters who are canonically dead in the Scream universe, with two being former Ghostface killers and one being a series protagonist killed off in the 2022 film. So in what capacity will they reappear? Just how bold in their retconning will Busick and Williamson dare to be? We’ll find out when Scream 7 hits theaters on Feb. 27, 2026. In the meantime, check out the first trailer below.

Keep scrolling for more great stories.