Sarah Michelle Gellar Wants to Return to Scream Despite Onscreen Death

Since Scream 7 is reviving so many characters who were killed off, Sarah Michelle Gellar is now throwing her hat in the ring.

Gellar, 47, took to Instagram Story on Saturday, February 1, to share a fan post asking that her character, Helen Shivers, return in the upcoming slasher sequel. The actress tagged director Kevin Williamson and producer William Sherak, writing, “I mean why not?!? You are bringing everyone else back.”

The Scream franchise started out with the original 1996 film. From there, the slasher movies became a cultural phenomenon with Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette at the center of the original trilogy. (Gellar’s character Helen was previously killed off in the second Scream movie.)

Campbell, 51, Cox, 60, and Arquette, 53, returned for the fourth and fifth films, which ushered in a new generation of stars including Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown. The sixth film, however, didn’t feature Arquette because his character, Dewey, was killed off and Campbell stepped back after rejecting the studio’s salary offer.

“Sadly, I won’t be making the next Scream film. As a woman I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream. I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise,” Campbell told Us Weekly in a statement in June 2022. “It’s been a very difficult decision to move on. To all my Scream fans, I love you. You’ve always been so incredibly supportive to me. I’m forever grateful to you and to what this franchise has given me over the past 25 years.”

News broke in December 2023 that Barrera was fired from Scream 7 due to comments about the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The production company behind the newest batch of Scream films, Spyglass Media Group, subsequently denied that Barrera’s pro-Palestine comments was what caused her exit.

Barrera, 34, has since broken her silence about no longer playing Sam Carpenter.

“First and foremost I condemn Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. I condemn hate and prejudice of any kind against any group of people,” she wrote via Instagram Story in January 2024, noting she felt a “responsibility” to speak out. “As a Latina, a proud Mexicana, I feel the responsibility of having a platform that allows me the privilege of being heard, and therefore I have tried to use it to raise awareness about issues I care about and to lend my voice to those in need. Every person on this earth — regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or socio-economic status — deserves equal human rights, dignity and, of course, freedom.”

Jenna Ortega also didn’t return in the role of Tara Carpenter because of her filming schedule for season 2 of Netflix’s Wednesday. Director Christopher Landon, who was set to succeed directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, later pulled out as well. Williamson, 59, who developed and wrote the scripts for Scream, Scream 2 (1997) and Scream 4 (2011), returned to the franchise as a director while Campbell confirmed she would be back in front of the screen.

Scream 7 has announced new cast members including Celeste O’Connor, Asa Germann, Mckenna Grace, Sam Rechner, Anna Camp and Mark Consuelos. The more surprising news, however, is the return of Matthew Lillard as Stu Macher a.k.a the first Ghostface killer who died in the first movie. (Scream 5 revived Skeet Ulrich as fellow OG Ghostface killer Billy Loomis as a manifestation for Sam.)

Scott Foley is also appearing in the seventh film although it is unclear whether he is playing Roman Bridger, who was unmasked as the killer in Scream 3 (2000) before being killed off.