How do Stu, Dewey, Roman and Mrs Loomis return in Scream 7?
Sidney Prescott was forced to face her past in the new Scream movie – literally.
**Warning: Spoilers for Scream 7 ahead.**
Ahead of Scream 7’s return, fans were desperate to know one major thing: how were seemingly dead characters from previous instalments suddenly back with a vengeance against Final Girl Sidney Prescott?
Long-time Scream lovers were excited, if not surprised, when Matthew Lillard and Scott Foley – who played killers Stu Macher and Roman Bridger from Screams 1 and 3 respectively – were confirmed to be returning to the world in January 2025.
Then two months later, it was reported that Deputy Dewey Riley (David Arquette) – the bumbling but well-loved detective and long-term survivor who met his maker in 2022's Scream – would be back too.
With speculation abuzz, Laurie Metcalf, who played Scream 2 killer Nancy Loomis – mother of original Ghostface Billy Loomis – admitted during a red carpet chat with Entertainment Tonight that she would “be open” to making a comeback too.
As it turns out, she was the best at keeping a secret. In Scream 7, Stu, Roman, Mrs Loomis and Dewey all made new appearances to taunt the last two original survivors Sidney (Neve Campbell) and Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox).
So how exactly did it all work out, and how were they all involved? Here’s what you need to know.
How did Stu, Mrs Loomis, Roman and Dewey all return for Scream 7?
Now, Stu Macher has been central to a long-held fan theory that he may have survived the original 1996 movie – despite being stabbed and electrocuted after getting a television dropped on his head.
So seeing Stu video-call Sidney, sporting bad facial burns and noticeably older, standing outside her daughter Tatum’s high school gym, gave some viewers pause. After all, it could just be the “truth” finally coming out.
But saying that, the other deaths were much more finite. Dewey was literally gutted in front of Sidney and ex-wife Gale in 2022's Scream, while both Mrs Loomis and Roman took deadly bullets once their Ghostface crimes were revealed.
So were they alive and well in Scream 7? No. They were in fact all recreated by AI deepfaking done by Marco, an orderly Sidney and Gale had previously met at Fallbrook Psychiatric Hospital. He was under the command of Jessica Bowden, Sidney’s overly-friendly neighbour and the main Ghostface.
They had created the deepfakes in order to taunt Sidney. In the case of Stu, he was used mainly in video calls to suggest he was the main Ghostface, and was following around Sid’s daughter, Tatum. He also dropped Gale a call to mock her for losing her talk show.
When it came to the final showdown, Nancy, Roman and Dewey all appeared on Sidney’s home television screen when she arrived armed with a gun ready to take on the killer.
As Billy Loomis’s mother, Nancy spoke about how Sidney should know how it feels to lose a child. Roman is next, “saying hi" to his half-sister Sidney before telling her: “We both know how far we’d go for our own family”, which catches her off-guard. Dewey’s message chillingly tells her: “All your friends die for just being near you.”
So the major casting announcements were more double-bluffs. While all were present in the movie, most were merely cameos. It was only Stu that had any major part to play in the overarching plot.
Could Stu Macher actually still be alive?
No. Writer Kevin Williamson has confirmed Stu Macher is, in fact, dead – though they’ve enjoyed playing up to the speculation, and made an alternative ending where he was alive.
The original ‘Stu is alive’ theory largely stems from Matthew Lillard’s appearance on The Bob Bendick Podcast in 2009. During the chat, he claimed he was meant to be Scream 3’s Ghostface, luring Sidney back to Woodsboro one last time for a confrontation at the high school after spending time in prison.
However, in the interview, Lillard claimed: “Three weeks before we were supposed to start shooting, [the] Columbine High School [massacre] broke out, and they changed everything. Took the script and threw it to the side, they bought me out and I never did the third one.”
While Williamson later debunked this claim, some superfans saw this as evidence Stu somehow survived – and as a meta-style writer, Williamson learned to play along within the scripts of the franchise.
As a result, the theories were later “cemented” to Stu-Truthers with seeming “clues” when the franchise was rebooted with 2022’s Scream. It’s even briefly referenced by character Mindy Meeks (Jasmin Savoy-Brown), who adopted her dead uncle Randy’s love of horror movies.
Speculation ranged from Stu running his own Ghostface cult who carried out his dirty work, to being hospitalised after the Woodsboro Massacre, and therefore hidden from view.
On top of that, Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), Stu’s partner-in-crime in the original high school murder spree, had managed to re-emerge significantly during Scream (2022) and Scream 6. Fathering a secret daughter in Sam (Melissa Barrera) after cheating on Sidney in the original timeline, Billy haunted his daughter in on-screen visions that left her terrified she would follow in his murderous footsteps.
The theory gained so much attention that, speaking to Esquire after the release of Scream 7, Williamson revealed that The Haunting of Hill House creator Mike Flanagan had pushed him on it, convinced that Stu was actually returning alive.
“He kept going on and on about it,” he shared. “Finally I said, ‘Listen, Stu’s dead. It will make no sense whatsoever if he’s alive. And I do not want to do that to this franchise. I do not want to jump the shark in that big a way. I’ll jump one shark, but I’m not going to jump ten sharks.’”
However, he confirmed that they did shoot an alternative ending that confirmed Stu’s survival as an option, rather than have him be solely AI.
“We shot a little coda at the end that we had in our back pocket,” he added. “But oddly enough, the decision was that the audience wanted him dead.”
Scream is available to watch in cinemas now.
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Authors
Tilly Pearce is a freelance TV journalist whose coverage ranges from reality shows like Love Is Blind to sci-fi shows like Fallout. She is an NCTJ Gold Standard accredited journalist, who has previously worked as Deputy TV Editor (maternity cover) at Digital Spy, and Deputy TV & Showbiz Editor at Daily Express US.
