While the news of Ortega’s reported exit came just one day after her ‘Scream’ costar Melissa Barrera was fired over her social media posts about the Israel-Hamas conflict, the 21-year-old actress’ departure from the horror franchise is said to be unrelated.
Following performances in 2022’s Scream and this year’s Scream VI, Jenna Ortega will not be returning for Scream VII, according to multiple reports.
As first reported by Deadline on Wednesday, the actress has dropped out of the horror sequel due to scheduling conflicts for Season 2 of Netflix’s Wednesday. Spyglass Media has yet to confirm the reports; TooFab has reached out for comment.
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Sources told Deadline that Ortega’s departure was discussed before the actors strike, which began in July and ended earlier this month. The 21-year-old is set to begin filming Wednesday Season 2 in April in Ireland, but also has more shooting to complete for the new Beetlejuice sequel as well.
The news came just one day after Ortega’s Scream costar, Melissa Barrera, was fired by Spyglass over social media posts about the Israel-Hamas conflict.
According to Deadline, Ortega’s departure from the slasher film franchise is unrelated to Barrera’s firing. Ortega starred as Tara Carpenter in Scream and Scream VI, while Barrera played her older sister Sam; both characters were central to the previous two films, it’s unclear how the new movie will be reworked without them.
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On Tuesday, Barrera was let go from Scream VII following multiple comments she made on social media about Israel and Palestine amid the ongoing war in the Middle East, as first reported by Variety.
In one Instagram Story post, per The Hollywood Reporter, the actress wrote that Gaza “is currently being treated like a concentration camp,” and described the war as “genocide and ethnic cleansing.”
In another post, Barrera also criticized media coverage of the war.
“I have been actively looking for videos and information about the Palestinian side for the last 2 weeks or so, following accounts etc,” she said in an other Instagram Story post. “Why? Because Western media only shows the other side. Why they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself.”
Spyglass Media Group — the production company behind Scream — later addressed Barrera’s firing in a statement.
“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 rep told Variety.
Meanwhile, Scream 7 director Christopher Landon appeared to react to the news of Barrera’s in a post shared to X. “Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make,” he initially wrote, before later deleting the post.
