Melissa Barrera Reveals One Condition For 'Scream' Return and Why Colette Ghunim's New Doc Matters [Exclusive]

If Scream 7 didn’t hit the sweet spot in quite the same way as its predecessors, a lot of that was due to the absence of Melissa Barrera and the bad energy that surrounded the movie ever since she was unceremoniously dropped from the franchise in November 2023 for speaking out against Israel’s ensuing war in Gaza. 

In the immediate aftermath, Barrera’s co-star, Jenna Ortega, and the movie's original directors, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, each stepped away from Scream 7 — citing scheduling conflicts — and there has been little in the years since to suggest any kind of turnaround.

But, talking to JustWatch to promote Colette Ghunim’s Traces of Home, Barrera suggested that she may still have a future in the long-running slasher franchise, if one thing were to change.

Read on for more on this developing story as well as some news on what the actress, musician, and activist has been working on recently, including her role as producer on Traces of Home and the upcoming film Life Support, about international doctors working in Gaza.

Melissa Barrera Would Return to Scream on One Condition

Speaking to our colleague Kate Schroeder, Barrera spoke fondly about her experiences working on the Scream franchise (which she played a significant role in helping to relaunch thanks to her starring roles in the 2022 requel and its warmly received follow-up) while admitting that a return would only be possible if certain higher ups were no longer in charge: 

“I love the franchise. I had an amazing time making those movies. But a lot of the hate and the difficulty I’ve faced in the last few years is because the leadership of that company made it a point to label me something that I’m not and they never apologised, even when I was proven right.”

This was a reference to current Scream rights holders, Spyglass Media, and their controversial decision to drop Barrera after accusing her of anti-semitism. This came after the actress shared posts on social media that compared Israel’s ongoing retaliation for the October 7th attacks to genocide and ethnic cleansing. In our interview, Barrera went on to state that a return to the franchise would only be possible if the rights were to end up in the hands of someone else, and preferably someone who would “honour Wes Craven’s legacy more.”

The interview took place just two weeks after Barrera had spoken out in support of Macklemore after the musician was dropped by the U.S. promoters of Ed Sheeran’s “Loop” tour for supporting Palestine — a now infamous decision which led to all of Macklemore's fellow support acts on the tour (including Finneas and the Irish singer Aaron Rowe) pulling out in solidarity in what has gone down as a watershed moment in the industry. Speaking to the Associated Press, Barrera explained that that act of solidarity had made her emotional while also lamenting the fact that she hadn't received the same support three years ago.

She added: “It was too soon. People were too scared. But it’s good to see that almost three years later, at least things have changed and when someone is attacked there are people behind saying, 'We are not going to allow this.'"

Hear, hear!

What Melissa Barrera Has Been Working On Since 

No points for guessing that Barrera's career took a slight knock after what happened with Scream 7, but it was thankfully a far from detrimental one. 

Just a few months later, at the Sundance festival the following January, Barrera was in Park City to promote her horror comedy movie Your Monster (for which she also contributed two original songs). Later in the year, she has back on screens in Abigail — a movie about a kidnapped ballerina who is also the daughter of a mob boss and also a vampire (because hey, why not?) — that was directed by her former Scream colleagues (and fellow franchise exiles) Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.

Since then, Barrera has been splitting her time between activism and acting work, making her Broadway debut as Rose in a new version of the West End jukebox musical Titanique, a hilarious Celine Dion-centred spoof of the James Cameron classic. Earlier this year, she also co-starred in (alongside Simi Liu) and co-produced (alongside James Wan) the sci-fi spy series The Copenhagen Test on Peacock. Big screen-wise, it's been a little more sparse, but Barrera currently has a crop of movies in the works, including a new Orca-centred thriller called Black Tide from the legendary action director Renny Harlin.

Having acted as executive producer (along with John Leguizamo) on Traces of Home, the actress has also announced plans to launch her own production company, called Unsilenced, which will focus on supporting “pro-Palestinian creatives and amplifying social justice stories.” 

Why Colette Ghunim’s Documentary is Essential Viewing 

Traces of Home has been picking up strong word of mouth ever since it won the Grand Jury Prize at DOC NYC last autumn. The film, which is currently on limited release in the United States as it continues its gradual rollout, sees Ghunim explore her family history through the stories of her Mexican mother and Palestinian father, both of whom were forced to flee their respective homes when they were still children. With everything going on in the world right now, both in Gaza and on the United States/Mexico border, the documentary's theme of forced displacement could hardly be more resonant.

Along with interviews and archival footage, the film follows Ghunim as she travels with her parents to the places where they grew up. What results in a deeply personal journey that both reopens old wounds and helps to heal some things in the process; up to and including some aspects of Ghunim’s own relationship with her mother, an occasionally challenging bond which she compared (with plenty of warmth and humour) to the central conflict in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

"It's the mother and daughter relationship,” Ghunim explained in her interview with JustWatch, laughing as she recalled the icy stalemate between Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) and Joy (Stephanie Hsu) in the Daniels' Best Picture winner, “It's the same."