Summary

• Barrera's absence from Scream 7 left loose ends in Sam's story, but her Abigail role reversed this.
• Barrera's performance in Scream and Abigail solidified her as a modern scream queen.
• Abigail, directed by Scream's directors, filled a void in Barrera's roles.

With Melissa Barrera no longer appearing in Scream 7, the reboot trilogy can’t address a key part of her character’s story, but her Scream 7 replacement reversed it and fulfilled this story. Melissa Barrera has become one of the modern scream queens thanks to her performance in the Scream reboot timeline and more recently for her work in Abigail. The Scream franchise was brought back to life in 2022 with a fifth movie, the first in a planned reboot trilogy that brought back characters from the first four movies and introduced a new generation of characters.

Among them was Sam Carpenter (Barrera), who was revealed to be Billy Loomis’ daughter. Along with her sister, Tara (Jenna Ortega), Sam became the franchise’s new Final Girl, but after leading two Scream movies, neither is coming back for Scream 7. Barrera was fired from Scream 7 and Ortega left due to scheduling conflicts, though both already have new projects in the horror genre. Sam’s story, in particular, was left with many loose ends, but Barrera’s Scream 7 replacement reversed a key part of Sam’s story, essentially filling that void.

Melissa Barrera's Joey Abandons Her Child In Abigail (The Opposite Of Scream's Sam)

Scream’s Sam Had A Difficult Relationship With Her Mother

Joey worried she couldn’t care for her son properly and was ashamed. In Scream VI, Sam was disowned by her mother, Christina Carpenter.

Abigail is seen as Melissa Barrera’s Scream 7 replacement not just for being a horror movie but because it’s directed by Scream (2022) and Scream VI directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. Abigail takes viewers to New York City to meet Abigail (Alisha Weir), a young ballet dancer and the daughter of a wealthy man who is abducted by a group of criminals led by Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito). One of the criminals is Joey (Barrera), who shows more empathy for Abigail than the rest.

The whole kidnapping is later revealed to have been planned by Abigail so she could kill the group and also in revenge as they had all wronged her father (Dracula himself) in some way, but she was also doing it to earn her father’s love and attention. Joey is a former Army field medic who became addicted to morphine and ended up working as an underground medic for criminals. One day, she fatally nicked the artery of a man close to Abigail’s father, and this, along with her abandoning her son, made her Abigail’s target.

Joey’s substance use disorder led to problems with her son and his father, something that still haunted her as she worried she couldn’t care for her son properly and was ashamed. In Scream VI, Sam was disowned by her mother, Christina Carpenter, after Sam revealed the truth of her lineage to Tara, and in turn, Tara cut their mother off. Christina had been an absent mother since Scream (2022), so in a way, Abigail’s Joey was mirroring Scream’s Christina Carpenter, though with a different context and motives.

Melissa Barrera's Abigail Story Fulfills An Inevitable Scream 7 Twist That Can't Happen Now

Abigail Filled A Void By Flipping Melissa Barrera’s Roles

Joey deciding to be present for her son and be a mother is exactly what Sam needed Christina to do.

Before Barrera’s departure from Scream 7, the movie was expected to bring some closure to Sam’s relationship with her mother, who was also expected to be properly introduced after being absent from Scream (2022) and Scream VI. This can no longer happen without Sam and Tara, but Abigail fulfilled this through Joey. At the end of Abigail, Joey decides to be the mother that her son needs and show up for him, encouraged by Abigail to do so after Joey was there for her when her father wasn’t. Although Abigail didn’t show Joey reuniting with her son, it was implied she did not long after.

Joey deciding to be present for her son and be a mother is exactly what Sam needed Christina to do, especially after the 2022 Woodsboro murders that almost claimed her daughters’ lives. This part of Sam’s story in the Scream reboot trilogy won’t be getting closure anymore (and if it does, it most likely won’t be a satisfying one without Sam and Tara), but Abigail fulfilled that void through Joey, with Melissa Barrera now being on both sides as the abandoned daughter and the mother who left.