Patrick Dempsey Reveals Why He Won’t Return for Scream 7

Patrick Dempsey is not returning as detective Mark Kincaid for Scream 7.

“It just didn’t work out and we were dealing with the fires and everything that was going on and the schedule didn’t work out, unfortunately,” Dempsey, 59, told Variety in an interview published on Sunday, March 2, referring to the wildfires that devastated areas surrounding Los Angeles in January.

News that Dempsey would not return to the Scream franchise after his role as detective Mark Kincaid in 2000’s Scream 3. Dempsey was originally set to reprise the detective role in 2011’s Scream 4, but declined due to scheduling conflicts as he was already filming Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon.

In October last year, however, Dempsey told the Today show that a “conversation” about him rejoining the franchise had occurred, but he was “waiting on the script.”

“I haven’t seen anything yet,” Dempsey said at the time. “So we’ll see what happens.”

In general, the Scream franchise has a habit of reviving characters who were killed off in previous movies. Even Sarah Michelle Gellar, whose character was killed in Scream 2, has asked director Kevin Williamson and producer William Sherak to let her appear in the upcoming slasher sequel.

“I mean why not?!? You are bringing everyone else back,” Gellar, 47, wrote via Instagram Story in February.

Dempsey won’t appear in the franchise’s seventh installment — instead, a new Mark will enter the picture. It was confirmed in January that Joel McHale had joined the cast of Scream 7 as Mark Evans, the husband to franchise final girl Sidney Prescott, who has been played by Neve Campbell since the first Scream movie in 1996.

Campbell, 51, for her part, is making her return to the horror franchise after skipping out on Scream 6 in 2022 when she rejected 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.”

While Campbell is now set to return for Scream 7, there are other legacy actors who have not been confirmed for the next film, such as Courteney Cox and David Arquette. While Arquette’s character was killed off in Scream 5, Cox told Variety in September 2024, “I’m not officially signed on. I’m not, but there will be a Scream 7.”

Meanwhile, Scream 7 has announced brand new cast members for the upcoming film, including Celeste O’Connor, Asa Germann, Mckenna Grace, Sam Rechner, Anna Camp and Mark Consuelos. Even more surprising is the return of Matthew Lillard, who played Stu Macher, a.k.a the original Ghostface killer, in the first Scream film.