Matthew Lillard Provides New Details on the Slashed ‘Scream 7’ Alternate Ending
Scream 7 unleashed to, at best, mixed reactions from audiences and critics alike. Most leaning to the downside. But one thing that we can probably all agree on was how fun it was to see various cast members from previous films make an appearance. That includes Matthew Lillard, who endeared himself into the hearts of Scream fans as one of the OG Ghostfaces, Stu. Large swathes of the franchise fandom had been screaming for a return of Lillard for years, claiming he wasn’t actually dead. While I still say he most certainly was and is, the most recent sequel considered teasing that may not be the case.
MAJOR SCREAM 7 SPOILERS AHEAD
Back in March, writer/director Kevin Williamson revealed that an alternate ending had been tested for Scream 7 that confirmed that Stu was, sigh, still alive. Never mind that a TV crushed his head! At the time, we didn’t have many details on what was in the scene. Now, thanks to new comments from Lillard, we do.
Via Screenrant, Lillard delivered the following comments during the Fan Expo in Denver. “[I told Kevin Williamson], we spent the entire movie proving that Stu is alive, and then if he doesn’t come out that door people are going to be bummed. So, what we should do, is we should shoot a post-credit sequence where it’s just Stu watching TV somewhere, alive. Yeah, we shot it. I will say, when they showed it [to test audiences], they showed it without credits. So, they go to the end and then they show me in a reflection watching TV, and it didn’t work…So, it didn’t work because they didn’t test it right, but I think it would have been completely [different with the credits].”
Of course, those who have seen it now know that Stu returned through the killer’s use of AI, taunting Sydney (Neve Campbell) with AI versions of previous Ghostfaces. Revealing Stu as very much alive would have been a whole different story. Frankly, it’s one I’m glad the filmmakers decided to cut. I love Lillard, but the character is D E A D, dead. Let him rest. Enough with the nostalgia bait. Plenty of room for new Ghost-faces in the franchise.
Scream 7 is now available to stream on Paramount+.
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