Matthew Lillard says his Stu Macher Scream 7 return is "a gamble of legacy," but he was "openly campaigning" for a comeback for years

Matthew Lillard will soon be returning as Stu Macher in Scream 7, which, despite being something he's wanted for a long time, still gives him some nerves.

"It didn't really matter to me in what capacity Kevin [Williamson, director and original writer] wanted me to come back. At the end of the day, I think the reason I was so excited about it was 'cause I had been fighting to come back. I was openly campaigning for years," Lillard told Entertainment Weekly.

But, he's still worried how it might go down with fans of the long-running slasher franchise. "There was so much anxiety, so much fear, so much insecurity about stepping back into something that, frankly – and it's yet to be determined – could go really poorly," he added. "I mean, if people hate the movie, hate me, hate Stu, question why I came back, all of that weighs on me heavily… It's a gamble of legacy. I wouldn't want to hurt the legacy at all. And if I thought it would, I wouldn't be here."

Scream 7 is bringing back Lillard's Stu, Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott, and Courteney Cox's Gale Weathers, Jasmin Savoy Brown's Mindy Meeks-Martin, Mason Gooding's Chad Meeks-Martin, and David Arquette's Dewey Riley.

Stu and Dewey, of course, are both dead – so how they return remains to be seen. But, Scream 5 and Scream 6 brought back Skeet Ulrich's Billy Loomis via hallucinations, so we could be looking at something similar here.

Scream 7 arrives in theaters on February 27, 2026. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the most exciting upcoming movies of the year, as well as the best horror movies to watch now.