Melissa Barrera is speaking in interviews about her firing from Scream 7 for the first time, saying that she's had a "big awakening" in the past few months.
Barerra, one of the central stars of Scream as of the 2022 revival of the franchise, was fired back in November following several posts regarding the conflict in Gaza on her social media accounts. The firing quickly became huge news, with some decrying it as censorship.
Barerra spoke about the situation in interviews with a couple of outlets on Thursday at the Sundance Film Festival, which she's attending in support of her new indie film Your Monster.
“Honestly, I think I finally am becoming who I’m supposed to be in life, and the last few months have been a big awakening of that,” she told the Associated Press at the premiere of Your Monster. “I’m just so grateful for everything that’s happened.”
Speaking further in another interview with Deadline, Barrera talked about reuniting with the Scream gang the previous weekend. The actress posted to Instagram last week a photo from the MPTF’s 17th annual Evening Before Gala, which saw her with fellow Scream cast members Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Liana Liberato, Tony Revolori, Jack Quaid, and Skeet Ulrich.
“We’re family for life," Barrera told Deadline of the reunion. “If we’re ever in the vicinity of each other, we always find each other and that’s what happened at that event."
She added that she's "just so grateful of what I got to infuse in the franchise, and that's also something that I will be proud of forever."
Melissa Barrera on reuniting with Jenna Ortega and the ‘Scream’ “Core 4” at MPTF’s 17th Annual Evening Before Gala : “We’re family for life” | #Sundance pic.twitter.com/ms1M550g80
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) January 19, 2024
While these are Barrera's first interviews since the firing, it's not the first time she's spoken publicly about it. Barrera previously posted a statement on her Instagram after the news broke which read, in part, "As a latina, a proud Mexicana, I feel the responsibility of having a platform that allows me the privilege of being heard, and therefore I have tried to use it to raise awareness about issues I care about and to lend my voice to those in need."
Scream in Flux
The state of Scream 7 has largely been up in the air since Barrera's firing. In regards to the firing, Spyglass Media (which produces the Scream movies) said at the time, "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."
The day after the news broke, it was revealed that Ortega would also not be returning for the sequel, reportedly due to scheduling conflicts with her Netflix hit Wednesday. This raised even more questions about the future of the franchise, given that it was largely focused on their Carpenter sisters as protagonists.
If that wasn't enough, Christopher Landon, who was taking over directing duties from Radio Silence, confirmed in December that he also excited Scream 7, saying it was "a dream job that turned into a nightmare."
We've gotten few updates about the film since then, although Variety reported in November that the filmmakers were weighing options that included bringing back original franchise star Neve Campbell.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
