Scott Foley’s ‘Scream’ Easter Egg Will Melt Your Brain
If he was a celebrity, Roman would have been acting in the TV show Sweet Valley High while making trips to Woodsboro to convince Billy Loomis to become Ghostface — which is just weird to imagine.
Despite being killed off in Scream 3, Scott Foley has been officially cast in the upcoming Scream 7. There’s no word on what shape his appearance will take. Did he supernaturally survive his death? Will we get a prequel scene? However, there’s one Easter egg from Scream (2022) that could make Foley’s return into one of the most bizarre twists of any horror franchise.
The Scream movies are “meta” horror movies, meaning they are self-referential and exist in a world where the characters are aware of horror movie tropes. The films are also meant to make some kind of commentary on the current state of horror. For this reason, they include many Easter eggs for die-hard genre fans in the audience.
Most of these Easter eggs are little details, like a cameo by The Exorcist‘s Linda Blair in the first movie, two separate Scream characters named after Lindsay Wallace from the original Halloween and the heartfelt double-meaning of the “For Wes” party in Scream (2022) — as the audience and production alike mourned the first Scream film to be made since director Wes Craven passed in 2015.
But one subtle Easter egg opens up a huge can of worms regarding Scott Foley’s character specifically. This Easter egg occurs in Scream (2022) when Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) is watching TV in her hospital room. She is shown to be watching Dawson’s Creek, specifically the episode “The Scare”. Not only is this a fun episode to include because it satirizes horror movies including Scream, but it also stars Scream alum Joshua Jackson as Pacey and Scott Foley in his guest arc as “Cliff”.
What does this mean for the universe of the Scream movies? If Scott Foley and Joshua Jackson are indeed actors in the world of Scream, no one mentioned it in Scream 2 or Scream 3. The timeline of events means that Roman (Scott Foley) would have been acting in the TV show Sweet Valley High while making trips to Woodsboro to convince Billy Loomis to kill his girlfriend’s mother — which is pretty weird to imagine.
If the directors of Scream (2022) just wanted to make reference to Kevin Williamson (who wrote the original Scream script and went on to create Dawson’s Creek), they could have easily chosen one of his movies or shows that doesn’t feature any of the Scream cast. If they just wanted to show a funny goof of Scream, they could have chosen the Boy Meets World episode “And Then There Was Shawn” which wouldn’t have any crossover with Scream actors to explain away. The directors specifically chose one of only five Dawson’s Creek episodes with Scott Foley.
Wouldn’t it be fun if this was addressed in Scream 7? Williamson is directing and the Scream (2022) directors wrote the screenplay/created the story. If the Scream movies are all about being meta, perhaps the casting of Scott Foley means we’re in for some fun retcon? I’m looking forward to Mindy Meeks-Martin painstakingly explaining to the audience what it all means.
Scream 7 has already begun filming and is currently scheduled to be released on February 27, 2026.
