Three decades after his character was killed off, Matthew Lillard is returning to the Scream franchise. The return is just as shocking as it is exciting for many fans, given the fate of the character in the original film.

Per Deadline, it's been revealed that. With Scream 7 releasing next year, the big return will mark a full 30 years since Lillard was last seen in the franchise as Stu Macher (though he did have sneaky cameos as other characters in Scream 2 and 2022's Scream). After the news was announced, Lillard shared a video on Instagram of his hand writing out one of Stu's most memorable lines in Scream: ""

In Scream, Lillard played Stu Macher, one of the two Ghostface killers alongside his pal, Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich). Both characters are killed off at the end of the film, or at least seemingly so, with Stu taking a television set to the face. In previous years, Lillard has hinted that there were tentative plans to bring Stu back for a twist in an unmade version of Scream 3, which would have revealed that the character survived. In the years since, however, there has been no indication that Stu is alive, though Lillard has continued to express his openness to reprising that role in some way.

As of now, it can only be speculated how Lillard will be able to return. It's not impossible for Scream 7 to follow through on revealing that Stu has been alive this whole time, waiting 30 years to carry out another attack on Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott. Stu could also possibly have a twin brother who suddenly enters the picture, potentially even becoming a victim of the new movie's Ghostface.

Perhaps the most realistic scenario is that Stu will be seen as a hallucination. Scream VI set a precendent for this when Sidney had visions of Billy with Ulrich reprising the role. Ahead of Lillard's casting, it was reported that Scott Foley, who played Ghostface killer Roman Bridger in Scream 3, had joined the cast. This now marks multiple former Ghostface killers revealed to be in Scream 7, and there's a good chance this will mean that Sidney is having more visions of the Ghostfaces who've tormented her in years past.

Lillard will be reuniting with not just Campbell, but Courteney Cox, who is back as Gale Weathers in Scream 7. This makes Cox the only on-screen character to be featured in all seven of the franchise's movies. Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original Scream film for director Wes Craven, is helming the new Scream film.

Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding, who appeared in the previous two films, are also coming back for Scream 7. Cast newcomers include Joel McHale, Isabel May, Celeste O'Connor, Mckenna Grace, Asa Germann, Sam Rechner, Anna Camp, and Mark Consuelos.

Scream 7 will be released on Feb. 27, 2026.

Source: Deadline