Mason Gooding opens up about “Scream 7” return, pivoting the franchise back to Sidney, and getting E. coli during filming

Nick RomanoWed, February 25, 2026 at 2:00 PM UTC

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Mason Gooding as Chad Meeks-Martin in 'Scream 7'Credit: Jessica MiglioKey Points -

Mason Gooding discusses the post-Scream 6 limbo period and finally getting the call to return as Chad Meeks-Martin in Scream 7.

The actor shares how he got E. coli the day before filming "a fairly integral scene" set at a bar.

Gooding talks supporting Neve Campbell and Kevin Williamson's return to the franchise.

If Mason Gooding looks physically unsettled during a certain Scream 7 scene, he very likely was.

The actor can't dig into too many specifics of the moment he's referring to, at least not ahead of the film's release this weekend, but he refers to it as "a fairly integral scene to the plot" that takes place inside a bar. You may have already glimpsed some of this sequence, which includes his Scream 5 and 6 cohort Jasmin Savoy Brown as his onscreen sis, across the slasher's many teasers.

"I happened to get E. coli the day before filming it," Gooding shares with Entertainment Weekly. "I was mentally present for none of it," he adds. "They would call cut, and I'd pull this Home Depot bucket up from under the bar, and I'd...uh, you know, do what you have to do to not feel sick anymore. Then they'd go, 'All right, we're going back in!' I'd put it down, and I'd clean it out, and I'd come back inside. So there's a scene where I look like I'm dying, and it's arguably because I am, but it works for the character."

Gooding reprises his role of Chad Meeks-Martin, the jock-type son of original Scream character Martha Meeks (Heather Matarazzo) and nephew to the late Randy (Jamie Kennedy). Chad was present, alongside his twin sister Mindy (Brown), first in the Woodsboro setting of Scream (2022) and again in the New York City college environment of Scream VI (2023) as a member of the Core Four, a group of Ghostface survivors that also includes Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega's Sam and Tara Carpenter.

Mason Good and Jasmin Savoy Brown in 'Scream 7'Credit: Jessica Miglio

The Meeks-Martin duo is now back for the events of Scream 7, which centers around a new Ghostface killer (or killers) who targets Sidney Evans (Neve Campbell) and her family, including daughter Tatum (Isabel May) and husband Mark (Joel McHale). It's unclear just how much time has passed since the last film, but Tatum, named in memory of Sidney's high school bestie (Rose McGowan), is now the same age that her mother was during the original Woodsboro massacre.

The Chad of this scenario is "very tired," Gooding describes. "Chad has been through it and is not really game emotionally for getting back into it." Hence, the actor decided to make the best of his own physical ailment while filming. "There are certain illnesses that have those names that sound like they belong in the Oregon Trail PC game. This felt like one of 'em," he jokes. "But here I am. I survived. I lost a bunch of weight. It was really unfortunate. But also, again, I think it added to Chad's demeanor. So you take the good with the bad."

Gooding and Brown's returns in Scream 7 were a bit of a surprise, given all the creative pivots, the biggest being the exits of Barrera and Ortega, which left the franchise without its two main leads of the new Scream era. After Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, the directing duo known as Radio Silence, parted ways to make their vampire ballerina movie Abigail, production company Spyglass fired Barrera over social media posts that supported the Palestinian cause and criticised Israel's actions in the Israel-Hamas war.

In a statement about the decision, Spyglass said it has "zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form." Barrera responded by condemning antisemitism while emphasizing the importance of using her platform "to raise awareness about issues I care about."

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Ortega departed shortly after, telling press in the aftermath, "It was all kind of falling apart."

Neve Campbell as Sidney in 'Scream 7'Credit: Jessica Miglio/Paramount

Kevin Williamson, the original screenwriter behind the Scream movies, then came aboard and shifted Scream 7's focus back to Campbell, who helped shape this new story. Gooding and Brown are the only two of the new characters introduced in the fifth and sixth entries to come back for the seventh (that we know of, anyway).

Gooding prefaces that he wasn't in the room where the decisions were made, but sees Campbell's involvement as being their North Star. "I feel like, especially after her taking time away from the franchise" — the actress sat out Scream 6 over a pay dispute — "that it was important to respect her and find the most authentic and meaningful way to involve her in the franchise that she originated," he says. Once that new story was locked and May's casting as Sidney's daughter was booked, Gooding adds, "The rest of it was allowed to fall into place there."

Gooding thinks back on that limbo period between Scream 6 and 7. He chalks it up to the nature of change and how one's relationship to something can evolve as a result.

Chad (Mason Gooding) and Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown) in 'Scream 7'Credit: Paramount Pictures

"Creating this relationship to Jenna, Melissa, Matt, Tyler, and knowing the thing only from that perspective meant taking my time to grieve and trying to find a way to relate to the work that had been done," he explains. "[It] meant making sure, certainly privately and also professionally, that the understanding of family and collaboration was still present and intact and respected so that whatever the franchise became afterwards, whether or not I was involved, was hopefully done in a way that…The creatives behind it, in this case Kevin and Neve, finding a way to create their collaborative effort after taking so long away from it, getting their recompense, and having the return of their influence on the franchise, hopefully, is just done in a way that you can support that and be respectful to that."

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Gooding says he's personally happy to see Williamson and Campbell's new story realized, as a fan of Scream himself, though he can't say much about it. Paramount hadn't yet screened the film for him at the time of this interview. This is also the third Scream movie where he received a script with the third act redacted, so even he doesn't know much about what's to come — and he prefers it that way.

"I always try to know as little as possible so that I can enjoy the pieces of the thing that I [wasn't] involved in," he comments. "It feels like I can watch it and experience it the way a fan does, despite the fact that my face will be on screen for an indeterminate amount of time." For better or worse, that includes his E. coli scare.

on Entertainment Weekly

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