Kevin Williamson actually shot two endings to “Scream 7” and he reveals which one didn’t make the final cut …
“Scream 7” is the No. 1 film in America with a massive opening weekend making it the biggest in franchise history so obviously audiences are on board with the latest sequel in the series but it turns out writer and director Kevin Williamson actually had a different ending in mind.
MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN SCREAM 7
Of course, Matthew Lillard’s return for “Scream 7” was heavily publicized but it wasn’t explained how he was coming back until the movie was actually released. Early in the filmi after a few murders have already happened, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) gets a Facetime call and the person on the other end is none other than Stu Macher — one of the original Ghostface killers from “Scream.”
Now Sidney dropped a television on his head and he’s been presumed dead ever since but hints about Stu’s possible return date back as far as “Scream 3.” This time Stu actually does come back but it’s eventually revealed that it’s actually an AI version meant to taunt and torment Sidney as she searches for the real killers.
But it turns out, Williamson actually shot an alternate ending where Stu Macher actually is alive and he returns to finish the job he started in Woodsboro 30 years earlier.
“We wanted to have our cake and eat it too,” Williamson told Empire Magazine. “I wish I could take credit for that. But Guy Busick had that in his script. He wrote all the AI stuff.
“The first time I read it I was like, ‘How is this going to work? How is he going to be alive?’ Furthermore, if it is AI, will part of the audience be disappointed that he’s not real? We were playing that game. And I’d be lying if I said we didn’t shoot it both ways.”
Williamson shot a version of “Scream 7” where Stu actually reveals himself to Sidney and he’s very much alive but it turns out, audiences didn’t react the way he hoped.
“We shot a little coda at the end that we had in our back pocket,” Williamson said. “But oddly enough, the decision was that the audience wanted him dead.
“It makes more sense. It’s more real. If he’s alive, that’s a big stretch. We live in a world now where with fake AI, we know that’s possible.”
While test audiences may have convinced Williamson to stick with the AI version of Stu Macher returning, “Scream 7” isn’t exactly earning the best reviews since being released. In fact, the film is the lowest rating “Scream” movie out of the seven films in the franchise but that probably doesn’t matter much to the creators behind the film because the movie is crushing it at the box office and “Scream 8” is almost certainly going to happen.
But what about you? Would you have preferred the alternate ending to “Scream 7” where Stu was actually alive?
