Scream VII in tatters are BOTH Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega leave franchise

The Scream franchise has been thrown into disarray over the past 24 hours.

Between yesterday and today, Scream VII has lost its two lead stars as both Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega have left the horror franchise...for very different reasons.

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Barrera recently posted a number of social media comments relating to the conflict in Gaza.

“Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp,” she wrote on Instagram.

“Cornering everyone together, with nowhere to go, no electricity no water … People have learnt nothing from our histories. And just like our histories, people are still silently watching it all happen. THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING.”

Spyglass released a statement accusing Barrera of antisemitism:

“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.”

READ MORE: Neve Campbell was NOT happy about this character's death in the Scream franchise

Now, Scream will have to contend with the loss of Ortega, too.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ortega's departure has nothing to do with Barrera being fired, but rather a scheduling issue due to filming on the second season of Wednesday.

The 2022 reboot/sequel of Scream was a commercial and critical success, as was Scream VI, released in 2023.

On a budget of $24 million, Scream earned $140 million at the worldwide box office, a healthy return for an R-rated 18+ film. A major contributing factor to the success of the latest movie in the Scream franchise has been attributed to the young cast who breathed new life, or death, into Woodsboro.

Franchise favourites Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette all featured, but the plot centred around a new batch of teens, led by Barrera's Sam Carpenter.

With no script written for Scream VII, any writer will undoubtedly have to address the absence of Sam and Tara.