For years, queer horror fans have speculated about whether Billy Loomis and Stu Macher—the murderous duo from Wes Craven’s (and Kevin Williamson’s) Scream — were more than just friends. Now, nearly 30 years later, the actors themselves are feeding the fire again.
During a recent reunion panel, the interviewer brought up the long-running fan theory that Billy and Stu were queer-coded. Skeet Ulrich (Billy) and Matthew Lillard (Stu) immediately played it up, snuggling together onstage as Lillard toyed with Ulrich’s nipple to massive crowd cheers.
Rose McGowan, who played Tatum in the film, then added her own spin, joking that maybe that subtext was even a motive behind her character’s death.
Lillard doubled down with, “Maybe we were totally aware. We are the first husbands of horror.”
He didn’t stop there. “There’s a lot of hatred in the world right now,” Lillard told the audience. “And I love standing up and saying, we are the first gay couple ever in the movie. And there’s nothing they can f***ing say about it. You can’t touch it. You can’t take it away. So I don’t know — there’s a little gay kid out there going, ‘Oh my God!’ We see you. We love you.” His comments were met with cheers from the crowd.
That kind of embrace feels like canonization for a theory that’s been around for decades. As early as the late ’90s, critics and fans were noting the homoerotic tension between Billy and Stu, whether in their lingering touches or the infamous kitchen scene, in which Billy even quotes Norman Bates’ famous line, “We all go a little mad sometimes.”
The film’s openly gay screenwriter, Williamson, has since acknowledged that queerness was part of the subtext he wrote into the characters. Neve Campbell herself was aware of the speculation, joking in 2022 that “Stu might’ve been more in love with Billy than vice versa.”
And this isn’t the first time Lillard has weighed in, either. At Emerald City Comic Con in 2023, he told fans outright that the pair were “definitely gay,” framing it as part of horror’s long queer lineage.
For a franchise that’s been dissected for nearly three decades, moments like this show why Scream still resonates. Billy and Stu may have been killers, but to queer fans, they’re also a love story hiding in plain sight.
Check out the full video below:
@fandomspotlite Scream cast members discuss the first husbands of horror fan theory. #silverscreamcon #scream #matthewlillard #skeetulrich #rosemcgowan @Silver Scream Con @Matthew Lillard
