WhenWes Craven’sScream burst into theaters in 1996, one performance stood out: Matthew Lillard’s wild, manic turn as Stu Macher. In a horror film already steeped in thrills and meta commentary, Stu’s charismatic, chaotic energy instantly made him one of the genre’s most memorable villains. Stu met a gruesome end in the film’s climax, last seen with a TV on his head and assumed dead.
But if Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger have taught audiences anything, it’s that you can’t keep a good slasher down. From the moment Stu and Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) were dispatched, fans have debated whether Stu is truly dead. That question gained new urgency when it was announced Lillard would return in next year’sScream 7. But Stu’s status was already complicated, thanks to a fleeting cameo way back inScream 2.
‘Scream’ Usually Leaves its Killers Dead
Stu Macher enters Scream as the goofy, hyper-aware teenage sidekick. He’s annoying, funny, and deeply entrenched in horror movie knowledge. But when the dust settles, Stu reveals himself as the masked murderer alongside Billy. In the climax, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) traps the pair, Billy is shot, and Stu is left under a crushed TV set and seemingly killed. It’s a great ending for a classic slasher movie.
Scream, despite its horror movie trappings, is largely grounded in reality. There isn’t a supernatural aspect to it, and its killers switch from film to film before being taken down and killed. Despite the love for the series, it isn’t known for overt fan service or bringing back slain characters. There are exceptions: Hayden Panettiere’s fan favorite Kirby was shot and left for dead in Scream 4, only to show up alive and well in Scream VI, but it was easily explained away because her character, while wounded, was never shown dead. Skeet Ulrich returned as Billy Loomis in 2022’s Scream, but he was a hallucination by his daughter, Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera). In the Scream movies, characters who we actually see die tend to remain dead.
This is why audiences could be forgiven for being shocked when it was announced that Lillard would co-star in the upcoming Scream 7. Although it hasn’t been officially revealed who he’s playing, it’s a fair guess that he’s returning as Stu Macher, possibly back from the grave. But before fans cry “retcon,” it’s worth remembering that this isn’t the first time Stu’s return has been a possibility. He returned once in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in Scream 2 and nearly played a major role in Scream 3.
“Surprise, Sidney”… Stu Might Be Alive
Just a year after Scream became a sleeper sensation, Craven returned with Scream 2, which found Sidney once again avoiding a horror-savvy Ghostface, this time on a college campus. While two new characters don the white mask this time, eagle-eyed fans spotted Matthew Lillard briefly in the background of the college frat party scene. He’s seen hugging co-star Timothy Olyphant, whose character turns out to be one of the film’s killers. This tiny Easter egg winked at Stu’s possible survival, where he possibly passed the baton to the next killer, and deepened the mythology around the character’s fate.
An embedded sight gag for fans who were quick with the pause item? Perhaps. But many fans don’t know that Lillard was originally paid to do three Scream movies, and Stu was originally intended to return as a major antagonist in Scream 3 as the puppet-master behind fresh killings, orchestrating a new spree from prison. That version of the script had Stu pulling the strings from behind bars and unleashing mayhem on unsuspecting teens. But the real world intervened. After the Columbine massacre in 1999, studios grew wary of associating with teen violence and murders in a school setting. The original Scream 3 script, which included Stu’s resurrection, was scrapped and rewritten, although writer Kevin Williamson eventually used the puppet master serial killer idea for his TV show, The Following.
The decision effectively removed Stu from the official canon of major players, leaving fans speculating on whether he was still alive. Was this cameo in Scream 2 a tease, and was his elimination from Scream 3 a creative choice or a cultural necessity? Could Stu still be out there, ready to get his revenge? Lillard, for his part, remained neutral, telling The Drew Barrymore Show:
“That is, without a doubt, for somebody above my pay grade. … I am NATO on that. I am not attached to outcome, if it’s a, b, c, or anything in between. The only thing that matters is that I think the fans would love it. I think the fans would get a big kick out of it, and I think it would be fun to do. Outside of that, it’s up to the higher powers.”
We’re Feeling Woozy: Lillard Will Return in ‘Scream 7’
Those fan theories will get some hard answers in February 2026, when the long-awaited Scream 7 hits theaters. Directed by franchise originator Williamson and starring Neve Campbell once again as Sidney Prescott, the sequel promises a return to the series’ meta roots and long mythology. And that might include Stu, as a cryptic Instagram post from Lillard in January 2025 revealed he was joining the cast. And Stu isn’t the only character being brought back from the dead. Scott Foley will return as Roman, Sidney’s half-brother and the sole killer in Scream 3, despite being shot and seemingly killed in the finale.
Lillard’s return to Scream might prove that that Scream 2 cameo was more than just an Easter egg and that Stu has been running free for 30 years – or it might be something else entirely. Perhaps Stu appears in flashbacks or in visions and dream sequences similar to Ulrich in the 2022 film. Maybe the film will follow up on Williamson’s plans for Scream 3 and have Stu commanding a Ghostface army from prison. Given the Scream franchise’s love for skewering modern Hollywood trends, perhaps Lillard is appearing as an AI version of Stu who only appears on screens. Lillard himself has been mum, joking only that he’s showing up as the series’ “fairy godmother” and promising “it’s going to slay.”
Does it feel like a potential cheat? Perhaps. ButScream has often proved itself versatile and smarter than its critics. When a rushed sequel one year after the original seemed like a bad idea, Craven and company delivered one of the best slasher follow-ups ever. And when a reboot in 2022 seemed like a desperate attempt to jump aboard the legacy sequel train, the franchise proved itself to be a smart twist on the trend. “The killer isn’t really dead” is a horror trope as old as the Universal monsters; it’s very likely Williamson and screenwriter Guy Busick have already anticipated the pushback and have a clever twist in mind. Hopefully, it’s a real scream.
- Release Date
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December 12, 1997
- Runtime
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120 minutes
- Producers
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Andrew Rona, Bob Weinstein, Cary Granat, Cathy Konrad, Harvey Weinstein, Marianne Maddalena
