One of the most shocking twists in Scream 5 was the reveal that Sam Carpenter, played by Melissa Barrera, is the daughter of original Ghostface killer Billy Loomis. Skeet Ulrich returned as Billy’s bloody apparition in both Scream 5 and Scream 6, haunting Sam’s psyche as she battled the violence in her veins. And according to Ulrich, the franchise almost took that darkness all the way.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Ulrich revealed that the early vision for Scream 7 leaned fully into Sam’s cursed legacy. “When we talked about coming back for Scream 5, it was a three-picture arc for Billy Loomis to slowly turn his daughter into the killer,” he said. “Obviously, those things didn’t pan out, given certain things that happened.”

Those “things” refer to Spyglass firing Barrera after Scream 6, which forced the seventh film into a complete overhaul—scrapping Sam and Tara’s storyline and shifting the spotlight back onto Sidney Prescott and the legacy survivors.

It’s a stark contrast to the direction Scream 6 teased, with its final moments lingering on Sam clutching the Ghostface mask—before dropping it—hinting that her father’s bloodlust still lingered under the surface. Ulrich’s comments confirm that the original plan was for Billy’s spectral manipulation to escalate in Scream 7, though whether Sam would’ve fully embraced the mask or continued resisting it remains unclear.

As for the current version of Scream 7, Ulrich says he’s officially out. He confirms he won’t appear in Kevin Williamson’s 2026 sequel and claims to “know nothing” about its story.

Scream 7 hits theaters February 27, 2026—but the version we almost got? That one sounds like it would’ve sliced a lot deeper into the Loomis bloodline.