Melissa Barrera Says Acting Offers Went “Quiet for 10 Months” After ‘Scream’ Firing, Backlash: “I Had to Reevaluate Everything”
Melissa Barrera is looking back at what she describes the “darkest” year of her life.
In an interview with U.K.’s The Independent, the actress reflected on being fired from the Scream franchise over social media posts she’d shared to Instagram Stories after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza.
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“It was the darkest and hardest year of my life, and I had to reevaluate everything. There were times where I felt like my life was over,” she said.
After being dropped from the franchise — the actress was set to star in Scream 7 — she admits that job offers were scarce. “It was quiet for, like, 10 months. I was still getting offers for small things here and there — I’m not going to lie and say there was nothing — but [the message] was, like, ‘Oh, she probably doesn’t have work, she’ll say yes to anything.'”
Describing herself as someone who can be a worrier — “Inside I’m constantly freaking out. I rethink my career at least twice a year.” — Barrera said she just didn’t want her acting career to “just end.”
However, the aftermath made her introspective now realizing, “For the longest time, I gave myself value as a human because of my work. So when I saw it potentially ending, I was like, who even am I? And I realized that I’m so much more than just an actor – I’m a great sister, a great daughter, a great friend. And I’m very capable of finding success in something else if I wanted it.”
When further looking back on starring in two of the Scream films, Barrera said. “They gave me a lot in my career. I made really good friends. I have such loyal fans from those movies that are now watching the rest of the stuff that I do.”
However the caveat is that when fans approach her, they bring up the firing and backlash: “They’re like, ‘What they did to you is so messed up, I’m so sorry that happened!’ And it’s something, I think, that’s never going to end. Because the franchise is never going to end. So while I still have so much love for [those movies], the reminders of that very sour moment make it a little bit weird.”
The seventh Scream movie, being made by Spyglass Entertainment, is now set to star original franchise star Neve Campbell, who sat out the previous installment due to a salary dispute. The new film will focus on her character, Sidney Prescott, and her daughter.
When responding to the fans who remain divided in supporting Barrera or Campbell and the films, the actress said, “I think there have always been Scream factions. There are always going to be people that love you and people that hate you, and people that are open to a story continuing, and people that think that continuing it is ruining it. If they want to go watch the next one? Cool. If they don’t? Also cool.”
“You just gotta act according to how you preach,” she continued. “And that depends on what you value, what your morals are, and whether you can separate that from art or not. There are people who can’t listen to R. Kelly anymore, or Michael Jackson, or can’t watch Woody Allen films anymore. And then there are people who don’t care.”
Despite enduring minimal work in the aftermath of the firing, good offers of work have now been coming. “It felt like I had been invisible, and then all of a sudden, there was a switch that made me visible again,” she said.
The Independent reports that the actress is currently filming an espionage series for Peacock alongside Simu Liu. “It was exactly what I needed to ease myself back into the industry and do something fun that’s not going to destroy me emotionally,” Barrera said. “And, most importantly, I’m finding the right people to work with. I feel better. I was stuck in the sand dunes for a while, and now I feel like my feet are moving, I have an oxygen tank, and I’m, like … going up.”
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