Jenna Ortega Exits ‘Scream VII’ for ‘Wednesday’ Season 2 Scheduling

Jenna Ortega won’t return in ‘Scream VII‘ due to her commitment to shooting the second season of Netflix’s ‘Wednesday‘ in Ireland, starting in April and continuing through the summer. The decision was made before the actors’ strike and with the script for ‘Scream VII’ still in progress, Ortega’s schedule conflicts led to her exit. Additionally, ‘Beetlejuice‘ had extra shooting days post-SAG-AFTRA strike to meet its Labor Day 2024 theatrical release.

As per reports, Ortega’s decision not to return to the ‘Scream’ franchise is not linked to the dismissal of Melissa Barrera or a request to terminate her contract. Deadline has confirmed that Ortega’s choice is unrelated to Barrera’s firing over social media repostings on the Hamas-Israel conflict. Ortega and Barrera played sisters in 2022’s ‘Scream’ and this year’s ‘Scream VI’ as Tara and Sam Carpenter.

In response to Barrera being dropped from ‘Scream VII,’ Spyglass Media Group issued a statement yesterday, stating, “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.”

Christopher Landon will take over as director from Radio Silence’s Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. As per reports, Radio Silence was interested in directing Scream VII, but their schedule was occupied by a secret Universal Studios monster movie. Due to SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, the production of Scream VII might take a while to begin. A lot of film production was halted to support the strikes.

Landon initially posted a statement on X, which was later removed. The statement read, “This is my statement: ? Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make.”

The filming for ‘Scream VII’ is set to occur in the first quarter of 2024 in Montreal, Canada, with a wrap-up date around April 19th, 2024. The film’s working title is “Blackbird” and will be set in New York.

The film is produced by Paramount Pictures, Radio Silence Productions, and Spyglass.