The Scream franchise is well known for its meta aspects and tendency to poke fun at itself and the tropes of the horror genre and the newest Scream film is no different. The new fifth installment is directed by Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and the first in the franchise to be helmed by a director other than the late Wes Craven. However, the creators made sure to stay true to Craven’s vision and maintain the meta charm that makes the Scream films so unique, there even being a planned meta cameo that never came to be.

The film self-proclaims as a “requel” – a reboot/sequel where legacy characters return to help new characters through similar events they once endured. In this case, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette all return in their iconic roles as Sidney, Gale, and Dewey to support a new cast including Jenna Ortega, Melissa Barrera, and Jack Quaid.

The “Stab” films, mentioned in all Scream films from Scream 2 and beyond, are the in-universe Scream films and are meant to represent what Scream is to us. The newest film makes significant note of the “Stab” films and how fandom expectations can affect film enjoyment. This is a particularly relevant conversation and the film even mentions “the guy who made Knives Out” as making one of the controversial “Stab” films, which of course, is none other than Rian Johnson. Johnson is also known for writing and directing Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the eighth installment in the franchise and a particularly contentious one within the Star Wars fandom.

Directors Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin revealed that there were plans to include a Rian Johnson cameo in the film to further bolster the meta aspects of toxic fandom, as Variety reports. He was unable to make the shoot date due to working on his own project, Knives Out 2, at the same time.

This cameo would have been especially cool for Star Wars fans (depending on their opinions on The Last Jedi) and may have led to mixed reactions, but ultimately would have proven a point about toxic fandom and extreme reactions to certain story choices, a crucial plot point in Scream.

Scream is currently showing in theaters.