The big question going into Scream 7 was about the involvement of Stu Macher, Roman Bridger, and Dewey Riley. As we all know, all three of them died in previous movies. Well, at least two of them were 100% dead. There’s been rumors for years about whether Stu Macher made it through the events of the first Scream film and would pop up for revenge 30 years later. The trailers for Scream 7 and even Matthew Lillard himself suggested that Stu could possibly be alive.
However, the final act of that film reveals that Stu was indeed just AI and not one of the killers in Scream 7. But he almost was one, according to director Kevin Williamson. That’s right, an alternate ending of Scream 7 where Stu is alive was shot and shown to test audiences.
During an interview with Esquire, Williamson talked about Stu’s involvement in the plot. “We wanted to have our cake and eat it too,” he admitted. “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.”
So that means there is footage of Stu Macher alive and up to no good in this universe in a Scream 7 alternate ending. However, that did not resonate well with test audiences. “We shot a little coda at the end that we had in our back pocket,” said Williamson. “But oddly enough, the decision was that the audience wanted him dead.”
Why? Because, as I have always maintained, the idea of Stu surviving multiple stabbings to his center mass AND having his head barbecued by a heavy ‘90s era TV is nonsense. And the Scream universe does indeed work within our reality bounds. It is far more believable for someone to use Stu’s likeness as AI to taunt Sidney than for him to somehow be alive for 30 years with no one knowing. I am glad that the test audiences were people with good sense.