Why Jenna Ortega Wont Be Returning For Scream 7

Jenna Ortega is stepping away from her role in “Scream 7,” but not for the reason some fans might think. 

Just one day after Spyglass Media fired her co-star, Melissa Barrera, from the latest installment of the popular slasher movie franchise over her tweets expressing support for Palestine amid the Hamas-Israel conflict, it was revealed that Ortega will also not be back. 

Some fans surmised on X (formerly Twitter) that Ortega’s departure could be related to Barrera’s firing considering that the internet also resurfaced Ortega’s pro-Palestine tweets .

But The Hollywood Reporter says  sources firmly declared that Ortega’s withdrawal from the movie is due to her “Wednesday” Season 2 shooting schedule and is totally unrelated to Barrera getting terminated. 

In 2022’s “Scream,” Ortega, 21, and Barrera, 33, starred as two main leads in the film as sisters Tara and Sam Carpenter in the horror classic directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.

As noted by Deadline , the “You” actor’s reps reportedly told Spyglass before the SAG-AFTRA strike that the star would not be involved in the next “Scream.”

On Tuesday, Spyglass clarified in a statement to Variety that Barrera was fired from the film because her social media posts could be interpreted as antisemitic.

“Spyglass’ stance is unequivocally clear: We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech,” a spokesperson from the film production company said.

Barrera is reportedly no longer working with her publicist in addition to Spyglass.

Christopher Landon, the new director on “Scream 7,” reacted to Barrera’s termination in a since-deleted post on X, writing, “This is my statement: Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make.”

“Scream 7” hasn’t secured a release date yet, but it’s expected to hit theaters sometime in late 2024 or early 2025.