Stu Macher Returns and ‘Scream’s Potential Fanfiction Future
After six entries in the Scream franchise, where is there left to go? The fan answer is one name: Stu Macher. Here’s how that might work.
Scream moves are all about the metatext. The first movie explains the rules of horror. The second movie explains how sequels work. And the third introduces the idea that everything you know, especially family stuff, is wrong.
And while the fourth film goes its own way, exploring a reversal of the final girl being the killer, the new (potential) trilogy is a requel. The new movies mirror the old ones and expand on their ideas from a long-game franchise perspective. Kind of like the last Star Wars trilogy. In fact, keep that comparison in your back pocket.
Scream 2022 plays out the way the original film does, almost beat for beat. And SPOILERS, Scream VI, just like Scream 2, features a literal stage where a family impacted by our hero’s actions reveals they are the new killers.
This brings us to Scream VII – and, by proxy, Scream 3 – the movie where our assumptions about the hero’s family are upended.
Also in the sauce is the character fans keep asking about: Stu Macher. Yes, Billy Loomis’s partner in crime gets a big namecheck in Scream VI. And actor Matthew Lillard wants back into the “Scream” franchise.
Put it all together and you have to ask yourself: is there a way to bring Stu Macher back in a way that continues the requel tradition of reimagining the original trilogy?
In a word: yes. But let’s talk about how that actually plays out.
Courtesy of Dimension Films
Scream 3
Scream 3 is famously “the bad one” of the franchise. So, if you have not watched it in a while, here are the cliff notes:
Sidney Prescott is a crisis counselor helping victims of abuse when she starts receiving phone calls–from her dead mother Maureen. Obviously, this is Ghostface pitch-modulating their voice.
Sidney, along with Gale and Dewey, winds up with the people making the third Stab movie because Ghostface is there. Long story short, the Ghostface in this case is director Roman Bridger. Unbeknown to Sidney, Roman is Maureen’s son from earlier in her life. Maureen wanted nothing to do with Roman because he was the result of a forced sexual encounter.
It turns out Roman takes revenge on Maureen by filming all of her extramarital sexual encounters in secret. Roman is the one who shows Billy Loomis that Maureen and his father are cheating on their respective spouses. In short, Roman is Sidney’s secret half-brother who set the entire Ghostface situation up in the first place.
It’s not the best story of all time, but it is canonical. And since the requel movies copy the original trilogy, it stands to reason that some of what happens in Scream 3 will happen again in Scream VII.
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
It’s All About Family
In Scream 2022 Sam tells her half-sister Tara that Billy Loomis is Sam’s biological father. And the story behind that is a little complex. Basically, as a kid, Sam finds their mom’s diaries which reveal that their mom was in love with Billy Loomis. The diary also implies that Billy is Sam’s father. And when Sam brings this evidence to her mother, the father who raised her overhears and winds up abandoning the entire family.
In Scream VI we also find out that Sam and Tara’s mother is no longer speaking with either of them. In other words, while both parents are still alive, they are both completely unknown quantities. At the bare minimum, it seems likely that Scream VII must feature at least one of the parents–if the movies continue copying the original trilogy, that is. And it is also likely that there’s something we don’t yet know about one or both parents.
A lot of Scream VI deals with conspiracy theories. The trio of Ghostface killers actually orchestrate an entire conspiracy theory that Sam was actually the mastermind behind the murders in Scream 2022. But one conspiracy which also gets a namedrop involves the possibility that Stu Macher is still alive somehow.
Which begs the question: where might Stu fit into all of this? But first things first.
Courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures
Scream Wars: Episode VII – The Rise Of Stu Macher
Remember when we brought up the most recent Star Wars trilogy? Hi, this is where we bring that back. In those movies, Rey eventually finds out that she is the secret daughter of Emperor Palpatine. Similarly, Sam finds out she is the daughter of Billy Loomis. Two heroes born from villains.
But the difference is that Rey’s true parentage doesn’t come out until the third and final film. And conversely, we know Sam is Billy’s daughter within the first half hour of Scream 2022. Unless, of course, everything we know about Sam’s family is wrong.
Welcome to the endgame where we ask the question: is Billy Loomis really Sam’s biological father? All we know is that Sam’s mother never denies it. But what if Sam’s mother, like Sidney’s, had sex with other people? She was young! No reason why a young woman wouldn’t have multiple sexual partners.
What if Sam’s mom also had sex with Stu Macher? What if it’s possible that her real father is Stu Macher?
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Scream VII and Embracing Fanfiction
Any successful film franchise has fanfiction. And fanfiction often queers the script because the script so rarely queers itself. And one of the longest-held beliefs about the original Scream is that Stu Macher was in love with Billy Loomis.
There’s nothing that says Stu isn’t in love with Billy. And, I mean… have you seen Billy Loomis? It’s not exactly a stretch!
But it’s the ’90s and maybe Stu was not ready to admit those feelings directly. So instead Stu bends to Billy’s will and agrees to help Billy with his murderous revenge. And if Stu and Billy are willing to kill together, who is to say they aren’t also willing to have sex together–if a woman is involved that is.
The new Scream trilogy is more than just a refresher. It’s not just pure imitation. Scream 2022 is about the rules of a requel. Scream VI is about what it means to be in a franchise–and it’s about conspiracy theories, too.
Rey being Palpatine’s daughter is pure fanfiction turned canon. What if Scream VII is all about playing with that? After movie after movie of making the subtext textual, what if this next entry is about making fanfiction canon?
Courtesy of Dimension Films
Revenge of the Stu
Stu Macher doesn’t have to be alive for Matthew Lillard to play him just like Billy Loomis doesn’t need to be alive for Skeet Ulrich to play him. The ability for both to appear from beyond the grave is already built in because Sam has visions.
So, here’s what we’re saying: Stu Macher is dead, but he can still appear if Sam conjures him up. And all Sam needs is a reason to believe she should be seeing Stu.
Picture this: Sam has a conversation with someone where she finds out that her mom had sex with multiple people, including both Billy AND Stu. Sam sees a vision of Billy as it slowly dawns on her that he might not be her biological father after all. And as the thought occurs to her, Billy begs her to stop thinking what she’s thinking. But it’s too late. Billy is stabbed from behind. As his body crumples to the floor, Stu is revealed.
“I said I’d be right back.”
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Fanfiction or Canon: Why Can’t It Be Both?
The best part of this concept is that Stu doesn’t actually have to be Sam’s biological father–she just has to believe he is. The entire use of fanfiction within the narrative can be used to make Sam question her own reality. Just because Scream VII is likely to have some huge family reveal doesn’t mean it has to be true.
Ghostfaces lie all the time! Other than stabbing people to death, lying is kind of their thing! Maybe Stu is Sam’s real father. Maybe he isn’t! The point is to deconstruct the impact fanfiction has on the canon of long-running franchises.
We know two things for certain. Matthew Lillard wants to reprise the role of Stu Macher And the current team behind Scream have not ruled out the possibility.
So, we are calling it. Scream VII. Stu Macher is Sam’s real father. Unless he isn’t. Now, all we need is for Scream VII to actually get the green light!
