Matthew Lillard played Stu Macher, a guy who got a TV dropped on his head in 1996 and has been technically dead in the franchise ever since.
So when the internet decided he was definitely coming back for Scream 7, he did what any reasonable 55-year-old man would do: he got on social media and poked the bear with a stick.
His comments were less "cryptic tease" and more "watching y'all spiral from a safe distance." Lillard has spent nearly three decades being asked about Stu, and at this point he handles it like a man who has accepted his role as horror fandom's favorite zombie rumor.
Here's the thing nobody wants to hear: Stu surviving Scream 2 has been fan fiction since dial-up.
Kevin Williamson himself has admitted the original plan involved Stu orchestrating things from a jail cell, but that script got shredded and the franchise moved on.
He has known this longer than most of the people tweeting at him were alive.
Yet every time a new Scream gets announced, the same ritual kicks off.
Someone else cites "my cousin works on set." A third person declares it's basically confirmed.
Lillard then says something vague in an interview, the internet combusts, and the movie comes out without him.
This time around, his commentary had that specific flavor of a guy who is both flattered and exhausted.
He's not denying anything, but he's also not winking so hard his face cramps.
When actors are actually in a secret project, they go radio silent or lie badly.
Lillard is out here doing stand-up about it.
Meanwhile, Scream 7 has actual confirmed chaos to discuss.
Neve Campbell is back after sitting out the last one over a pay dispute.
Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega are gone.
Christopher Landon bailed as director and Kevin Williamson stepped in.
That's not a production, that's a game of musical chairs where the music is a Ghostface knife scraping a wall.
Because Scream fans are the most loyal and least reasonable people on earth, and I say that with love.
The franchise trained us to expect callbacks, legacy characters, and a killer with a personal grudge.
Of course we want the original unhinged goofball back.
But wanting and getting are different zip codes.
Lillard has been pretty clear over the years that he'd show up if the script made sense, not just to wave at the camera before getting stabbed.
A cheap Stu cameo would be worse than no Stu at all.
Nobody wants to watch a beloved character get resurrected just to be cannon fodder in the third act.
The fun money says maybe there's a photo on a corkboard or a mention in a podcast.
The delusional money says he's been secretly filming in a warehouse in Atlanta for six months and the whole thing is a misdirect.
Lillard has done great work for decades, he's funny on social media, and he doesn't owe anyone a resurrection arc.
If Scream 7 wants to bring Stu back, it needs to earn it, not just exploit our nostalgia for a guy who peaked by getting electrocuted.
Final Thoughts
Until then, enjoy the chaos, because the speculation is honestly more entertaining than half the sequels.