Melissa Barrera Calls Scream 7 Cast ‘Scabby’ in Explosive Interview

Melissa Barrera has a lot to say about Scream 7 — and she’s done being quiet about it.

More than two years after she was fired from the franchise she headlined, and two months after the sequel hit theaters without her, Barrera sat down with Variety to talk about her Tony-nominated Broadway run in Titanique. But the conversation quickly turned to the horror franchise that made her a star — and she didn’t soften a single word.

When asked whether she felt it was “scabby” for her former co-stars to return for Scream 7 after her firing, Barrera didn’t hesitate. “Oh, one hundred percent,” she said. “I think they all are. And they have to live with that. The only way they were able to make that movie after what happened was to nostalgia-bait as much as possible.”

She’s talking about Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding — who play Mindy and Chad Meeks-Martin — both of whom came back for their third appearances in the franchise. Brown had spoken publicly about missing Barrera ahead of filming, but ultimately took the job. Courteney Cox also returned, though Barrera’s comments feel aimed more squarely at the newer cast members than at someone who’s played Gale Weathers since 1996 and has appeared in every single Scream film.

When the interviewer went further and said Scream 7 “sucked,” Barrera agreed — and then went somewhere unexpected. “I know. And I think they lied about the numbers. I don’t think it made that much money,” she said. “But at the stage door, I sign Scream things every night. People who love me from those movies are coming to see the show, and they can’t ever take that away from me.”

For the record, Scream 7 did break box office records for the franchise — becoming its highest-grossing installment yet, not adjusted for inflation, partly on the back of a reported $7 million deal to bring Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott back. There’s no evidence the numbers were inflated. But you don’t have to agree with Barrera’s skepticism to understand where it’s coming from.

On Jenna Ortega and the Silence That Hurt Most

One of the more striking moments in the interview came when the subject of Jenna Ortega came up. Ortega, who played Barrera’s on-screen sister Tara, also exited Scream 7 — a move many fans interpreted as a show of solidarity. Barrera shook her head at that framing, saying it was “not the reality of things.” Her point was broader: that nobody from the Scream world really had her back when it counted.

“I got some messages of support from people in the industry, but what I found is that private messages with no action mean nothing,” she said. “I had faith. I was like, ‘Someone is going to reach out to me and help me. It’s just a matter of time.’ You know who was the only person? Boots Riley. I love him. He reached out to me ten months later — I had ten torturous months of uncertainty, and no work, and suffering, and not even knowing if my team was on my side, it was terrible — and Boots sent me a message in August of 2024 and was like, ‘I got a part for you in my movie.’”

That film was I Love Boosters. Barrera ultimately couldn’t appear in it due to scheduling conflicts with her Peacock series The Copenhagen Test, but she says Riley’s offer “flipped a switch” — suddenly other filmmakers started reaching out, and her career began to move again after nearly a year of silence.

What She’s Still Grateful For

For all the sharp edges in the interview, Barrera made clear that her feelings about Scream aren’t purely bitter. She has real gratitude for the directors who gave her the role in the first place.

“The reality is that Scream is always going to be a big part of me because it was two years of my life,” she said. “It gave me a lot, and I’m grateful specifically to Matt [Bettinelli-Olpin] and Tyler [Gillett] who gave me that shot. That hasn’t been soured for me. They don’t have that power.”

It’s a meaningful distinction. The franchise itself, the studio, the co-stars who stayed — that’s where her frustration lives. But the work she did as Sam Carpenter, the final girl she got to be in Scream 5 and 6? That’s hers. And every night on Broadway, when someone hands her a piece of Scream merchandise at the stage door, she signs it.