Matthew Lillard played one of the original Ghostfaces, Stu Macher, alongside Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) in Wes Craven's Scream, and despite the character seemingly meeting a violent end, fans continue to speculate and theorize that the deranged killer could return in the upcoming Scream 7.
Stu appeared to be pretty definitively killed off during the climax of the movie, but we have seen plenty of people survive what should be fatal wounds in the franchise, so who knows?
For his part, Lillard has said that he believes Stu is still alive, and would be happy to reprise the role if that was something fans wanted to see.
“Stu is definitely alive, right? My character Stu is definitely alive. I would love it. If it made sense for the franchise. If Kevin [Williamson] liked it. Then sure. Obviously.”
Williamson is set to helm the next movie in the long-running horror franchise, but it remains to be seen if Lillard will be back. In a more recent interview with Games Radar, the actor praised the later films, but feels the last one - Scream VI - was "too violent."
“I think it’s in a good place. I think that [the franchise being] back in the hands of Kevin Williamson is great. I love what [Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin] were doing before. Nothing against them. In fact, I thought they were taking a really exciting way.”
“I thought the movie got too violent," he added. "I think 6 was, like… I don’t think Ghostface ever needs a shotgun. I think that the movies are – everything is trying to repeat what we did in the first movie in a lot of ways. Like, a maniacal monologue at the end. It’s really hard to do. I hope that Kevin takes it in a brand new, brave, and exciting direction so that we can sort of find different colors and different joys.”
Since the first Scream movie is arguably still the most brutally violent (remember that opening sequence with Drew Barrymore?) of the franchise, Lillard's comments have raised a few eyebrows - though some fans are also of the opinion that Ghostface should stick to knives as his/her weapons of choice.
After sitting out the last movie, Neve Campbell recently announced that she will return as Sidney Prescott for the upcoming seventh instalment.
“Sidney Prescott is coming back!” Campbell posted on Instagram when her return was made official. “It’s always been such a blast and an honor to get to play Sidney in the Scream movies. My appreciation for these films and for what they have meant to me, has never waned. I’m very happy and proud to say I’ve been asked, in the most respectful way, to bring Sidney back to the screen and I couldn’t be more thrilled.”
"Following the latest Ghostface killings, the four survivors leave Woodsboro behind and start a fresh chapter," reads Scream VI's synopsis. "In Scream VI, Melissa Barrera ("Sam Carpenter"), Jasmin Savoy Brown ("Mindy Meeks-Martin"), Mason Gooding ("Chad Meeks-Martin"), Jenna Ortega ("Tara Carpenter"), Hayden Panettiere ("Kirby Reed"), and Courtney Cox ("Gale Weathers") return to their roles in the franchise alongside Jack Champion, Henry Czerny, Liana Liberato, Dermot Mulroney, Devyn Nekoda, Tony Revolori, Josh Segarra and Samara Weaving."