Scream 7 has found its Mark, and it’s not Patrick Dempsey‘s Detective Mark Kincaid. Deadline confirmed Thursday that Community and Yellowjackets star Joel McHale has been cast to star as Sidney Prescott’s (Neve Campbell) husband Mark Evans in the upcoming seventh installment of the horror franchise, produced by Spyglass Entertainment.
“Amongst all the pain and suffering that has happened in Los Angeles over the last week, here’s an announcement of a movie I’m going to be in,” McHale shared news of his casting online, referring to the deadly Los Angeles fires. “I’m just thrilled and to be a part of the Scream franchise and thrilled Deadline used a headshot of mine from eight years ago.”
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Few details are known about the upcoming film, but McHale’s casting dashes many Scream fans’ hopes of Dempsey’s return to the franchise. Dempsey starred as Detective Mark Kincaid, a detective investigating the murders of Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber) and the actors associated with Stab 3, in Scream 3 (2000). After Sidney’s husband was referred to as “Mark” in the most recent sequels – 2022’s Scream and 2023’s Scream VI – many fans assumed the final girl had married Dempsey’s Kincaid offscreen. Scream (2022) and Scream VI directors Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin later confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that the Mark Sidney had married was in fact Grey’s Anatomy alum’s character.
“Mark Kincaid! Mark Kincaid is Sid’s husband,” Bettenelli-Olpin confirmed. Gillett added, “Yeah. It is. Officially on record!”
There had even been speculation that the actor would reprise his role in Scream 7 after Dempsey teased during an October 2024 appearance on Today that he was in talks to return. The actor said he was “waiting on the script. There has been a conversation about it. I haven’t seen anything yet, so we’ll see what happens.”
McHales’s casting begins to round out Sidney’s family, the members of which so far haven’t made an on screen appearance. Isabel May is set to portray Sidney’s daughter, but details on the character are being kept under wraps. The trip join returning stars Courteney Cox, Mason Gooding, and Jasmin Savoy Brown, who respectively play legacy characters Gale Weathers and twins Chad Meeks-Martin and Mindy Meeks-Martin. The cast is rounded out by Celeste O’Connor, Asa Germann, Mckenna Grace, Sam Rechner, and Anna Camp.
Scream 7 is scheduled to hit theaters on Feb. 27, 2026.
