Jenna Ortega says she left ‘Scream VII’ because the production was ‘falling apart’

Jenna Ortega has finally spoken up about her departure from “Scream VII.”

In a recent interview with The Cut, the “Death of a Unicorn” star admitted that her decision to leave the slasher franchise “had nothing to do with pay or scheduling. The Melissa stuff was happening, and it was all kind of falling apart.”

In November 2023, Spyglass Media Group, the production company behind the films, fired Melissa Barrera after the actor made a series of social media posts surrounding the Israel-Hamas war.

Barrera was accused of anti-Semitism, a claim she refuted in an April 2024 interview with The Times.

“It wasn’t easy to be labeled as something so horrible when I knew that wasn’t the case,” the Mexican-born actress said at the time. “I did have opportunities taken away from me. But I always trusted God, trusted that everything was going to work out for me.”

A day after Barrera was fired, Ortega announced that she was also leaving the production. At the time, Deadline reported that Ortega’s departure was because of a scheduling conflict with shooting the second season of the Netflix hit show “Wednesday.”

A month after both leading stars left the franchise, director Christopher Landon, who was initially slated to direct “Scream VII,” announced his resignation from the project.

“I guess now is as good a time as any to announce I formally exited Scream 7 weeks ago,” Landon said in a post on X. “This will disappoint some and delight others. It was a dream job that turned into a nightmare. And my heart did break for everyone involved. Everyone. But it’s time to move on.”

“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,” Ortega told The Cut.

The “Scream” series dates back to the 1996 original, directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson.

In March 2024, the screenwriter declared in an Instagram post that he will be taking over as director of “Scream VII” and will be bringing back the original “Scream” actress Neve Campbell to play Sidney Prescott.

“It’s been nearly 30 years since my very first script, Scream, was directed by the legendary Wes Craven,” Williamson wrote in an Instagram post. “I never would have predicted what it would become. Or that I would be directing the seventh installment of the franchise. I am overcome with gratitude and excitement, and I can’t wait to take this journey with Neve and the entire Scream family as we bring back Sidney Prescott in the next chapter of the Scream franchise.”

Times feature writer Mark Olsen, Fast Break reporter Summer Lin and former De Los staff writer Alejandra Molina contributed to this report.