“A lot of people think I had something to do with it, and it was not my doing. I had no control of the situation at all,” the original director of the seventh Scream said about Barrera being dropped from the franchise.

Christopher Landon attends the premiere of Universal Pictures’ “Drop” at TCL Chinese Theatre on April 08, 2025 in Hollywood, California. Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Christopher Landon, who was originally set to direct Scream 7, is revealing what went down amid Melissa Barrera being fired from the film.

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Landon spoke about what a “dark and tumultuous experience” Scream 7 was. Barrera who led Scream and Scream VI, was dropped in November 2023 from the seventh film because of her Israel-Hamas war social media posts.

Landon recalls receiving a phone call from Spyglass Media Group, the production company behind the movie, telling him the news that she was let go. He remembers everything “came tumbling down in an instant.”

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And when Barrera’s co-star Jenna Ortega, voluntarily left the film following her being fired, things started to get “highly aggressive and really scary” because people blamed Landon for the situation.

“People were threatening to kill me and my family, to the point where the FBI was getting involved. I got messages saying, ‘I’m going to find your kids, and I’m going to kill them because you support child murder,’” the Happy Death Day director continued. “The head of security at various studios and the FBI had to examine the threats.”

However, Landon confirmed he didn’t, telling Vanity Fair: “I did not fire her. A lot of people think I had something to do with it, and it was not my doing. I had no control of the situation at all.”

Ortega also recently revealed why she decided to leave. “It had nothing to do with pay or scheduling,” she said. “The Melissa stuff was happening, and it was all kind of falling apart.”

Because of the hate the Freaky director received, he decided to exit the movie himself, saying the “abuse really spoiled it for me, and I lost my love for the idea of going forward.”

Landon’s now moved on as the experience led him to be available to direct his latest thriller, Drop, which already received rave reviews and officially hits theaters on Friday. Scream 7 which will premiere in February next year, is being directed by Kevin Williamson. It will also star its legacy castmembers Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette.