Jenna Ortega Exits ‘Scream 7’ Just One Day After Melissa Barrera’s Firing

Jenna Ortega has walked away from Scream 7 in the wake of co-star Melissa Barrera’s firing. According to Deadline, the decision came back before the actor’s strike, but it carries extra weight due to the proximity to Barrera’s firing.

While this seems to indicate no connection between the two events, Ortega has been just as vocal on her own social media about the situation with Israel and the War with Hamas. With both departures, the film series seems to be faltering despite the great success both actresses helped usher in with their entries. It also tears up any real storyline that remained for Tara and Sam Carpenter and the long reach of the Ghostface killer – or killers – in the seventh entry.

Ortega will be working on Wednesday until at least summer, while the Beetlejuice sequel was set to wrap up a few more days of shooting to meet the Labor Day 2024 release date. Barrera’s firing came with a statement from Spyglass Entertainment that seemed to indicate the posts were the main reason for the decision.

“Spyglass’ stance is unequivocally clear: We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech,” they wrote in a statement.

Scream 7 director Christopher Landon also posted a tweet they later deleted, seemingly commenting on the firing. “This is my statement: Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make.” He included a broken heart emoji in the statement.

While the claims repeated by Deadline seem to indicate both decisions are unrelated, many online don’t agree and feel the proximity of the news is what tells the truth. No matter the truth, it does seem Scream 7 is now up in the air and without its two lead actresses.