Jenna Ortega Reveals Reason She Quit Scream Franchise: 'Nothing to Do with Pay or Scheduling'

Movies By TooFab Staff |
Getty / Paramount

Jenna's exit was revealed one day after costar Melissa Barrera was reportedly fired from the series, with Ortega saying the movie was "kind of falling apart."

Jenna Ortega is revealing the real reason she stepped away from the Scream franchise following two successful films in the series.

The Wednesday star appeared in the fifth and sixth films in the series and was expected to return for the seventh installment, but all that changed in November 2023 -- when it was reported she had exited the project.

The news, which she didn't comment on at the time, came one day after costar Melissa Barrera was reportedly fired from the franchise over social media posts about the Israel-Hamas conflict. At the time, Christopher Landon was on board to direct, after directing duo Radio Silence -- Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin -- exited the movie as well.

"It had nothing to do with pay or scheduling," Ortega said in a new interview with The Cut, after initial reports at the time of her exit cited a conflict with the filming schedule for Wednesday Season 2 and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

"The Melissa stuff was happening, and it was all kind of falling apart," she added. "If Scream VII wasn't going to be with that team of directors and those people I fell in love with, then it didn't seem like the right move for me in my career at the time."

The Cut originally published the interview with the "Melissa stuff" mention, before removing that and any mention of Barrera entirely. The publication later added it back.

Eventually, director Landon left the project as well, with original Scream scribe Kevin Williamson coming aboard to helm the seventh film.

With the exits of both Barrera and Ortega's characters, the script shifted to focus more on Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott, who sat out the sixth film after Campbell's pay dispute with the studio.

Courteney Cox, Jasmin Savoy-Brown and Mason Gooding will all be back, while David Arquette, Matthew Lillard and Scott Foley are also  expected to return -- despite all three of their characters being killed in previous outings.

Joel McHale, Mckenna Grace, Anna Camp, Mark Consuelos and Ethan Embry were also added to the cast.

Scream VII is set for a February 27, 2026 release.