The upcoming slasher film Scream VII appears to be in development hell now that director Christopher Landon has dropped the project.
The director has dropped out of the feature, capping a tumultuous few months for the embattled project that has included the exits of two of its leads.
“I guess now is as good a time as any to announce I formally exited Scream 7 weeks ago. This will disappoint some and delight others. It was a dream job that turned into a nightmare. And my heart did break for everyone involved. Everyone. But it’s time to move on,” Landon wrote on X Saturday. “I have nothing more to add to the conversation other than I hope Wes’ legacy thrives and lifts above the din of a divided world. What he and Kevin created is something amazing and I was honored to have even the briefest moment basking in their glow.
I guess now is as good a time as any to announce I formally exited Scream 7 weeks ago. This will disappoint some and delight others. It was a dream job that turned into a nightmare. And my heart did break for everyone involved. Everyone. But it’s time to move on. I have nothing
— christopher landon (@creetureshow) December 23, 2023
On Nov. 21, news broke that Spyglass had fired actor Melissa Barrera from the upcoming seventh Scream movie over social media posts it characterized as antisemitic, while a day later word came that fellow star Jenna Ortega would not be returning.
Sources note Barrera’s firing actually came in October, in the early weeks of the Israel-Hamas war, during which the actor had become increasingly vocal. Ortega’s exit, which was her and her representation team’s decision, came before this summer’s SAG-AFTRA strike but was not made public until last month.
Landon is the horror specialist behind Happy Death Day and Freaky, and would have taken over for the directing team Radio Silence, which revitalized the franchise with 2022’s Scream as well as Scream VI, which bowed in March and became the horror franchise’s highest domestic grosser and biggest hit since the 1996 original directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson.
Landon, who was hired before the actors strike, expressed unhappiness after Barrera’s firing was announced. “This is my statement: [Heart broken emoji] Everything sucks. Stop yelling,” Landon wrote on X Nov. 21, before deleting the post. “This was not my decision to make.”
Now, the future of Scream VII rests on James Vanderbilt, the writer-producer who co-wrote the rebooted movies and who is writing the current script. Sources say that the scribe, who was already contending with Ortega’s loss, had been focusing the story on Barrera’s character. When she was let go, he at least had a creative partner in Landon to shoulder the story. Now the franchise is back at the zero marker and will need to be rebuilt whole cloth.
