This article contains major spoilers for all Scream movies and is strictly opinionated.

Dear Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin,

        Don’t answer the phone. Don’t open the door. Don’t make another Scream movie without Matthew Lillard’s character making a most thrilling return.

The Scream movie franchise, which has been highly profitable since the late 1980s, is releasing yet another cog in the machine of the everlasting horror story. The initial Scream plot follows as such: in the small town of Woodsboro, California, someone sporting a white, ghost-faced mask commits numerous murders. Each murder Ghostface commits is connected to a woman, Maureen Prescott’s untimely death in the previous year. The murderer is revealed to be the son of the man Maureen was having an affair with; he had the plan to murder Maureen’s daughter, Sidney, on the 1-year anniversary of Maureen’s death to further his revenge and fuel his rage. Another thing, the murderer isn’t working alone, he has a partner—however, his partner has no motive for these murders aside from “peer pressure”. His partner is named Stu Macher and is a classic fan favorite of many who watch the Scream movies. Stu is a witty, hilarious, good-looking looney tune who you can’t help but love. Although Stu is allegedly killed in the first movie, I believe he may be the key to saving the upcoming Scream 7.

Recently, the Scream franchise has lost its two leading ladies, Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, which means major plot holes. Melissa Barrera, who played the daughter of Billy Loomis—one of the original Scream killers—was fired for her claimed “antisemitic Pro-Palestinian” post on social media. Melissa has since spoken out against these allegations, assuring that they’re false and incredibly misinterpreted. There is yet to be an update on Melissa’s employment, but as of right now, she is still fired. Jenna Ortega was never even set to return to the movie; its filming schedule conflicts with the filming of Wednesday, the hit Tim Burton show, as it approaches its second season. Although, other reasons for Jenna’s departure have been recently emerging. So, Scream 7 is out two leads; the absence of these women leaves various unanswered questions. Not only this but it also creates a stint in filming that everyone on the team is now suffering from; the release and filming will be pushed back, and the script must be entirely rewritten. The writers, essentially, are starting at ground zero because Scream 7 was set to pick up where Scream 6 ended. And now, without the two main characters, that’s nearly impossible without avoiding major backlash—as the team would likely just write the characters out. But, not to worry, as I have the perfect solution to this problem, as devastating as the circumstances of it are.

The best way for the Scream team to save the 7^th film is to bring back Matthew Lillard’s character, Stu Macher—the other killer in the original Scream. Allow me to explain why this is the best solution; I have compiled a list of defensible reasons supporting Matthew’s malicious character’s return.

1.  Every other essential Scream character has appeared—either by cameo or incredible importance to the plot—in one of the other five films. So, if the writers

   

   wish to uphold the tradition of gracing audiences with past character appearances, Stu Macher is the only one left. In addition to that, Neve Campbell, the main protagonist in nearly every Scream, did not make an appearance in the most recent film, but she is rumored to be on the producer’s wish list for the next one. If Neve does indeed make a return to the Scream franchise to defeat Ghostface once and for all, who better to help her than another og? Lord knows Stu has experience in the Ghostface arena; this could be his tremendous redemption moment.

2.  This may be slightly more subjective, but it has been subtly acknowledged in Scream 6 that Stu Macher may not be dead. Although this topic is debatable—given the fact that Stu is crushed by a tv in Scream 1—minuscule details such as these crafted by writers normally aren’t taken lightly—especially in a movie of the mystery/horror genre. And, if we’re being honest, death by tv raises questions among an audience anyway; many deaths in horror movies consist of high levels of gore and violence. So, Stu’s almost minute demise provides little to no finality. Thus, the basis of his return’s appeal.

3. Movie franchises like these have a knack for pulling things out of their pockets when audiences least expect it—like a character returning. This wouldn’t be the first time Scream writers have brought back a character who was otherwise thought to be dead. Examples of this include Roman Bridger in Scream 3 and Kirby Reed in Scream 6.

4.  The ultimate decision of bringing Stu Macher back gives the writers incredible ground to work with. The decision to make him either a protagonist or antagonist requires some contemplation—as both options have their pros and cons. If they choose to make him an antagonist, the motives he could have would be endless because—contrary to popular belief—Ghostface isn’t supposed to be caught, but the course of each Scream movie follows the mystery of catching the killer. Stu Macher could be the Ghostface who gets away with it—as I mentioned before, he has experience in the arena. The main conflict with bringing Stu back as an antagonist is keeping his identity a secret. If Stu is introduced at the beginning of the movie as a “normal” character—as many Ghostfaces are in order to preserve the mystery—audiences would immediately figure out that he is Ghostface. This strips the movie of its genre; it wouldn’t be a mystery at all because everyone would know Stu was Ghostface even before the reveal. Even if they didn’t introduce Stu at all, and his only appearance in the movie is Ghostface’s unmasking, cast lists exist. The minute the movie comes out people will be able to check the cast list; when they see Matthew’s name, they’ll know it’s him even if Stu has made no previous appearance. My preference, however, is to bring Stu Macher back as an unexpected protagonist. By doing this, audiences would be forced to designate whether they trust him or not. I, for one, find the process of trusting a character at one point, but rethinking it at another point, quite amusing; it keeps the audience on their toes and makes it a better mystery. This often happens in horror movies; there’s a point in the movie when the killer could be anyone, so you trust no one. This would make the reveal of Stu as a protagonist much more satisfying. Plus, making him a protagonist doesn’t mean making him awfully sweet or anything—because that’s not who Stu is. The writers could keep his sarcastic, snarky, and jokester personality while not making him the killer. There are so many angles the writers could take, each one profoundly entertaining.

5.  Regardless of Stu Macher’s whole “Jekyll and Hyde” looney thing, most fans of the franchise loved his character. This is mainly because Stu is incredibly

comical, charismatic (in an insane way), and ridiculously good-looking. You’d be hard-pressed to find a Scream fan who wouldn’t approve of his return. At the end of the day, the guy is a fan favorite. I mean, with lines like “It’s a scream, baby”, “Houston, we have a problem here,” and “Surprise Sidney,” how could he not be?

6.  As a bonus, I feel it’s crucial to include the fact that Matthew has said in interviews that he would gladly return to the franchise and step back into Stu Macher’s “Looney Tune shoes”.

Scream 7 may be the last film in the franchise, so why not make it the very best? How do you make a movie in a franchise the very best? Bring back people’s favorite character unexpectedly. I mean, imagining Sidney Prescott and Stu Macher joining forces to defeat Ghostface once and for all gives me chills. The only other thing the Scream team could pull from their pockets is bringing Patrick Dempsey’s character back—since many people are avid fans of the current People Magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” –but his character wasn’t substantial enough. Patrick played a detective in the third Scream and helped unmask Ghostface. That was it. He didn’t have any ties to the other characters or any secret character traits. There’s really no way to creatively connect him to the other movies in order to bring him back, the writers would have to randomly write him in somewhere. So, if the cosmic void is absorbing anything from this, it’s that Stu Macher’s revival—if you think he died—is the key component to the perfect patch-up, and wrap-up, of the notoriousScream film franchise. The directors, Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, have an opportunity here to make the, arguably, best new Scream.