Years after her breakout role inScream(2022),Melissa Barrera’s survival thriller is gaining prominence. Barrera starred as Sam Carpenter inScreamandScream VI(2023), alongside Jenna Ortega’s Tara Carpenter. She was eventually fired from the franchise after posting her opinions about the Israel-Gaza conflict on social media.
The nextScreammoviehas not yet been released, as Ortega left alongside Barrera, which led to considerable delays.Scream 7is now expected to be released on August 04, 2025, and will see Neve Campbell reprising her role as Sidney Prescott, alongside Courteney Cox (Gale Weathers), Joel McHale (Mark Evans), and other stars.
While Barrera was set tolead theScreamfranchisefor the foreseeable future, her firing meant that she was forced to turn her attention to other horror-related releases. The actor starred inAbigail(2024) andYour Monster(2024), and she is expected to appear in the upcoming espionage showThe Copenhagen Test.
Melissa Barrera’s Keep Breathing Is Surging
One of Barrera’s pre-existing releases is now surging on Netflix’s charts. In 2022, she starred in the survival-thrillerKeep Breathing, a six-episode miniseries that saw her as an attorney desperately trying to survive in a forest after a devastating plane crash.
The show failed to draw much attention in its initial release, and Netflix elected to let the show remain a miniseries, despite ongoing speculation aboutKeep Breathingseason 2. Unfortunately, the show failed to thrill critics, earning a disappointing 53% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes and a dismal 38% score on the audience-led Popcornmeter.
Keep Breathingwas originally envisioned as a limited series.
While it had an underwhelming reception initially,Keep Breathingis now becoming increasingly prominent. The show earned the #10 spot on Netflix’s charts on August 15, which is surprising when it comes three years after the show’s release. It sat behind #9Saare Jahan Se Accha: The Silent Guardians, #8Dan Da Dan, and the ever-present #1,Wednesday.
What This Means For Keep Breathing
Unfortunately, shortly afterKeep Breathingfound a spot on Netflix’s charts, it was pushed back out. On August 16, it was replaced byPerfect Match, and there is no way to know if the show will reclaim its place on the charts. Its resurgence was unexpected, however, so it could very well happen again with little prompting.
If so, Netflix could reconsiderthe show and potentially permit another season. WhileKeep Breathing’s ending was definitive, the series could easily evolve into an anthology show, depicting different leading characters in survival situations. For now, however, Netflix will need to see if it will be able to continue its rise to prominence.
