Jenna Ortega NOT returning for Scream VII due to Wednesday filming schedule – after Melissa Barrera was sacked from franchise for social media posts critical of Israel

Jenna Ortega will reportedly not be returning to the seventh installment of the Scream franchise due to her Wednesday filming schedule. 

Deadline has reported that Ortega’s departure from the Scream film was already in talks prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

The outlet reports that the script for the sequel has yet to be complete and Ortega, 21, will be travelling to Ireland in April to film season two of the Netflix series Wednesday. That shoot is expected to extend into the summer.

She also stars in Beetlejuice 2, which is on the verge of wrapping after the Hollywood strikes interrupted shooting. 

Deadline reports that her departure has nothing to do with co-star Melissa Barrera’s recent firing over posts about the Israel-Hamas war or the rumors circulating online claiming Jenna had requested to be removed from her contract. 

Jenna and Melissa played sisters Tara and Sam Carpenter in the horror franchise in 2022’s Scream and 2023’s Scream VI.

The Hollywood Reporter claims representatives for Jenna had told Spyglass Media, the production company behind Scream VII, that she did not plan to return to the franchise several months ago. 

DailyMail.com has requested comment from representatives for Ortega.  

Melissa was fired from the upcoming Scream VII after sharing a series of pro-Palestine posts on her social media accounts.

The actress, 33, who starred in the last two films in the horror franchise and had been about to shoot the next, has been dropped by production company Spyglass over what they said ‘crossed the line into hate speech.’

The Mexican star posted a series of comments on her Instagram account amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, including one in which she said Gaza was being ‘treated like a concentration camp,’ according to the Hollywood Reporter.

In the same post she asked if ‘people have learnt nothing from our histories’ and said: ‘This is genocide. This is ethnic cleansing.’

The actress, who played Sam Carpenter in the franchise, labeled Israel as a ‘colonized’ land and posted content containing an antisemitic trope in regards to Jewish people controlling the media. 

One post read: ‘Western media only shows the [Israeli] side. Why do they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself.’

A Spyglass spokesperson issued a statement to Variety explaining why Barerra was let go from the motion picture for her remarks.

‘Spyglass’ stance is unequivocally clear: We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech,’ the spokesperson said.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Barrera said in another Instagram Stories post that ‘Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp.’

Barrera on Monday posted a number of war-related clips to her Instagram Stories, including footage of American-Israeli forces in Gaza; demonstrations in favor of a cease fire in Philadelphia; and Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib calling for an immediate cease fire. 

Barrera played a key role in both of the hit horror films, as 2022’s Scream made $137.7 million in box office revenues globally, while Scream V, released this past March, took in $168.9 in global totals.

Director Christopher Landon, who has signed up to make the forthcoming film, distanced himself from the decision, saying in a now-deleted tweet: ‘Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make.’

Barerra, who is considered a rising star in Hollywood, has yet to speak out about the decision, but posted a message on her Instagram, which read: ‘At the end of the day, I’d rather be excluded for who I include, than be included for who I exclude.’

The actress went to New York’s prestigious Ticsh arts school and landed a role in American TV drama Vida in 2018.

She got her big break in 2020 when she was cast as Sam in the revival of the Scream franchise. The film was released in 2022 and she appeared in the follow-up, released this year.

Although the next film in the franchise has yet to start filming due to the SAG-AFTRA strikes, she was expected to reprise her role.

A number of Barerra’s fans chimed in on the comment section of a post she put up on September 16, offering up support for her amid the news of her scuttled Scream role.

One fan said, ‘We stand with you queen & we’ll be boycotting scream 7.’

Another fan remarked, ‘Thank you for being brave enough to care! I know me and others will continue to support you!’

Said one fan, ‘Please tell me that you being let go from Scream VII isn’t true? How could they let you go for calling for a ceasefire?’

Production has not yet commenced on Scream VII, THR reported. Paramount is expected to distribute the motion picture. 

The film’s development has ‘been slow amid the actors and writers strikes,’ according to the outlet.

The issue has impacted the employment of others in show business, as Variety reported that Tom Cruise intervened in a situation with his agent Maha Dakhil at CAA.

Dakhil, an agent at the Hollywood powerhouse, was removed from her position on the board of the agency’s motion pictures department after posting about the war, ‘What’s more heartbreaking than witnessing genocide? Witnessing the denial that genocide is happening.’

Cruise, 61, ‘took the rare step of going in person to show support for his embattled agent’ November 15 at CAA’s offices in Los Angeles, an insider told the outlet.

Sources told the outlet that ‘a group of CAA assistants threatened to walk out’ over how Dakhil, 48, had been ‘railroaded by management,’ but did not follow through; other agents upset about Dakhil’s posts were ‘disillusioned’ after she was allowed to retain her position as an agent with the firm.

DailyMail.com has reached out to Barerra’s reps and Spyglass for further comment on the story.