The latest news from theScreamfranchise proves thatScream 7can’t salvage the story of the series.2026’s upcomingScream 7won’t hit cinema screens for a long time, but the slasher sequel has already endured a fairly tortured production. 2022’sScreamreboot was a huge hit financially and critically, while 2023’sScream VImanaged to earn positive reviews and become a massive box office success despite the absence of the franchise’s original final girl, Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott. However, theluck of theScreamseriessoon ran out asScream 7entered pre-production.
Scream 7’s Sidney Centered Plot Only Makes This Reboot Trilogy Change Worse
Scream 7 is confirmed to be centered on Sidney Prescott, and while that was expected, it makes one change in the reboot trilogy worse.
Scream 2022andScream VIstar Melissa Barrera was fired fromScream 7before her co-star Jenna Ortega dropped out of the sequel due to scheduling conflicts.Happy Death Daydirector Christopher Landon soon followed suit, leading the studio to start over. Now, originalScreamscreenwriter Kevin Williamson has taken over directing duties and Campbell’s Sidney is back asScream 7’s heroine, but the production still seems troubled.TheScreammovies have a fairly straightforward timelinebut, in an attempt to replace Ortega and Barrera’s Tara and Sam,Scream 7seems doomed to complicate things with one big change.
Sidney’s Daughter Is A Clumsy Tara & Sam Replacement For Scream 7
The Scream Series Already Reinvented Itself With A New Generation Of Stars
According toVariety,1883star Isabel May is in talks to play Sidney’s daughter inScream 7in what looks like a pretty clear attempt to replace Sam and Tara. Ortega and Barrera’s Carpenter sisters were established as the new protagonists of the series inScream 2022, a reboot that waited until halfway through its runtime before bringing back Sidney. Replacing Sidney with Sam and Tara allowedScream VIto work around Campbell’s absence, but the same ploy won’t work in reverse. Adding May as Sidney’s daughter won’t help the troubled sequel, since this requires all manner of logistical leaps.
TheScreamseries showed that Sidney’s story was over and her spot as the franchise’s Final Girl had been filled, soScream 7will have a hard time proving she remains relevant.
Abruptly revealing Sydney’s daughter is a transparent attempt to repeatScream 2022’s trick of introducing a new heroine for a new generation of viewers.Scream 7’s problem is that Sam and Tarawere those heroines and the last two movies in the series hinged on their relationship. TheScreamseries successfully showed that Sidney’s story was over and her spot as the franchise’s Final Girl had been filled, soScream 7will have a hard time proving she remains relevant to the franchise. Moreover, May playing Campbell’s daughter only makes this problem worse due to another problem.
Scream 7 Casting Sidney’s Daughter Makes Her Timeline More Complicated
Sidney’s Daughter Needed To Be Mentioned Before Scream 7
Isabel May’s age doesn’t fit theScreamfranchise’s timeline and, while she could play a late teen despite being 24 in real life, even this won’t be enough to explain away a major timeline plot hole. Syd was pushing a stroller inScream2022, which is set around 2022. If May’s character is in her late teens,Scream 7needs to take place in 2040 at the earliest for Sidney’s hitherto-unmentioned daughter to be a teenager. Moreover, Campbell’s character would need to be two decades older than she was in 2022, so the lack of visible aging will almost certainly be weird.
UnlessScream 7dramatically ages up Campbell’s character, her daughter will have suddenly jumped in age from infancy to young adulthood in the space of around two years. A time jump alone can’t account for this, since this would mean Sidney would age too.Scream 2022’s eventscanonically took place 25 years afterScream, wherein Sidney was around 18. This means Sidney was around 43 inScream 2022, played by a then-48-year-old Campbell. Now, she would need to be around 67 inScream 7, but still played by a now 51-year-old Campbell. This timeline alteration would be plainly ridiculous.
Scream 7’s Casting Highlights The Franchise’s Biggest Story Problem
Scream 7’s Timeline Changes Wouldn’t Add Up
The main issue withScream 7casting Sidney’s daughter is the fact thatSidney’sScreamfranchise story arc had already reached its natural conclusion years ago. Sidney’s characterization has remained stagnant arguably sinceScream 3, wherein she found out the truth about her mother, uncovered the true mastermind of the original trilogy’s killings, and defeated him.Scream 4was a fun victory lap, but Sidney literally pointed out that the killers were only tangentially connected to her and mostly looking for fame and attention.Scream 7needed to be the final moviebecause Sidney’s story ended a long time ago.
Scream 7suddenly revealing she has a daughter all along would underline the reality that Sidney hasn’t been the franchise’s primary focus for over a decade.
It was already weird thatScream 4never mentioned Sidney’s partner, butScream 2022then revealed that she had been withScream 3’s Mark Kincaid off-screen all along.Scream 7suddenly revealing she has a daughter in her 20s would further underline the reality that Sidney hasn’t been the franchise’s primary focus for over a decade, which is somethingScream 2022andScream VIpointedly leaned into with Tara and Sam. This plot might have made sense if those sequels never happened, but it doesn’t add up now. Instead,Scream 7’s Sidney-centric storyline feels like a weak redirection.
What Scream 7 Should Be About New Characters, Not Sidney & Her Family
Scream 7’s Casting News Highlights The Franchise’s Biggest Story Problem
If there must be another addition to the series,Scream 7should focus on new characters instead of Sidney’s story. The franchise may have been able to make Sidney’s arc compelling again afterScream 4, when she had only been out of the spotlight for one movie. However, it is too late for this gambit to work.Scream 7’s opening kill problemalone is indicative of this. The sequel can’t kill off a returning character like Mark, Gale, or Kirby in its first scene, since there are precious few remaining legacy characters. However, a new character’s death has no stakes.
Scream 7is set to be released on June 11, 2025.
TheScreamseries is stuck in a catch-22 wherein Sidney’s story is no longer compelling, but the exits of Ortega and Barrera make it impossible for the series to continue with her replacements. Jumping ahead to give Sidney a teenage daughter means setting the movie in the 2040s and convincing audiences that Sidney is in her late ‘60s, or outright ignoring the events ofScream 2022and what they established about Sidney’s personal life. Ultimately, this could have been solved by centering on new characters, but the series didn’t take this route asScream 7focused on theScreamfranchise’s original heroine.
