Skeet Ulrich Says His ‘Scream’ Story Ended With Melissa Barrera’s Exit: No Billy Loomis Without Her

Few horror villains have had an afterlife quite like Billy Loomis. Skeet Ulrich first played the killer in 1996’s ‘Scream’, and although Billy died at the end of that film, the actor surprised fans by returning nearly 3 decades later.

In 2022’s ‘Scream’ and 2023’s ‘Scream VI’, Billy appeared as a hallucination to Sam Carpenter, played by Melissa Barrera. The films revealed that Sam was Billy’s secret daughter, and her visions of him became a way to explore her struggle with her violent heritage.

Now Ulrich has explained why that story will likely never be finished. Speaking with Us Weekly, he said Billy can’t exist in the franchise without Barrera’s Sam, because the character only lived inside her head, and the 3-film arc he was promised was never completed.

Ulrich has said before that his return came with a larger plan. When he was approached for the 2022 film, he was pitched a 3-movie arc that would continue into a seventh installment.

He previously told Entertainment Weekly that the story would have seen Billy slowly turning his daughter into a killer. He also told the New York Post that returning for the fifth and sixth films had been tied to appearing in the seventh, and that the original plan for that movie was very interesting.

That plan fell apart in November 2023, when Spyglass Media Group fired Barrera after she made pro-Palestinian posts on social media criticizing Israel’s actions in its war with Hamas.

The studio said at the time that it had zero tolerance for antisemitism or incitement of hate, while Barrera condemned antisemitism and defended using her platform for causes she cared about. The fallout reshaped the franchise. Director Christopher Landon and Barrera’s on-screen sister, Jenna Ortega, also left the project.

I’m gonna burn it all down. Watch the Official Trailer for Scream 7 – Only in theatres February 27, 2026. https://t.co/jAezh4yn15

— Scream (@ScreamMovies) October 30, 2025

‘Scream 7’ was retooled and released in 2026 without Barrera or Ulrich. Original writer Kevin Williamson took over as director, with Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and Matthew Lillard returning alongside Isabel May, Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding.

Ulrich’s comments came during an appearance at Angry Orchard’s ‘Scream’-themed video store pop-up in New York, which ran on October 2 and 3. The event celebrated a Ghostface-inspired cider called Mystery Caller.

He kept things light in parts of the conversation. Ulrich joked that Billy’s gunshot wound to the head would be hard to explain away and said he was excited for his friend Lillard, even backing the long-running theory that Lillard’s character Stu could have survived the original film.

Still, his comments about Barrera stood out. He made it clear that, in his view, Billy’s place in the franchise depended entirely on Sam. Ulrich isn’t the only franchise veteran to revisit the controversy. Lillard recently said he felt embarrassed about returning for ‘Scream 7’ after Barrera’s exit, admitting he had not fully considered her situation when he agreed to come back.

Barrera has also addressed the possibility of returning. She said she would be open to it, but not while Spyglass is involved. Many fans have long praised the Sam and Billy storyline as one of the newer films’ best ideas.

Ulrich’s comments have renewed discussion about the darker direction the franchise could have taken. For now, Billy Loomis seems likely to stay in the past. Unless Sam returns, Ulrich doesn’t see a way back for the original Ghostface.

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