Matthew Lillard doesn't think he'll return to “Scream” despite fan theory

The actor has bad news for fans who want to see more of his killer character Stu Macher.

Matthew Lillard has bad news for the horror fans that want to see more of his Scream character Stu Macher, who together with Skeet Ulrich's Billy Loomis was responsible for the homicidal mayhem in Wes Craven's 1996 slasher classic. The Five Nights at Freddy's star tells EW we probably won't see him in the role again.

The fate of Macher has long obsessed followers of the franchise. While Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott appeared to fatally crush his head with a television set at the end of the first film, Lillard himself tweeted in 2020 about the possibility that he could have survived, writing, "I mean... it was just a TV? Right?"

The theory that Stu is alive in the Scream universe was reinforced by Jasmin Savoy Brown's Mindy Meeks-Martin in this year's Scream VI. After Hayden Panettiere's character mentioned Macher's demise, she replied, "If you believe he's dead."

It wouldn't be the craziest situation to see Stu return, considering Ulrich's Billy returned to the most recent movies in ghost form. And certainly now, the producers of the planned Scream VII would seem to have some cast gaps to fill.

David Arquette's Dewey was killed off in 2022's Scream, while face of the franchise Campbell declined to appear in Scream VI because she felt she wasn't being offered enough money. Last month, the movies' new headliner Melissa Barrera was dropped from the cast of the upcoming Scream VII in the wake of a series of social media posts expressing support for the Palestinian cause and criticizing Israeli actions since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

The next day, news broke that Jenna Ortega would not be appearing in the seventh Scream film either, due to a scheduling conflict with the second season of her Netflix series Wednesday. Ortega and Barrera starred as sisters Tara and Sam Carpenter in the last two movies.

Despite these developments, Lillard insists he is unlikely to play Macher again. "I don’t think so. I don’t think so," he says when asked about it by EW. "I mean, look, with what they're going through right now, I have no idea where that goes. If there’s a world where it makes sense, then sure. I mean, they keep mentioning it, they keep tip-toeing around the outside."

Lillard is keen for the franchise's overlords to make clear whether Macher is alive or dead, regardless. "I hope they put it to bed one way or the other," he continues. "I can’t walk down the street without somebody asking me if I’m going to be in Episode 35 or whatever."

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Related content:

• Scream VII star Melissa Barrera dropped from film after posts about Israel-Hamas war

• Scream VII moving forward with Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon

• How the Scream VI filmmakers dealt with the absence of Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott
  

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.