Scream Queens Creator Admits the Show “Wasn’t Working”

Scream Queens was just a few years ahead of its time. Co-created by Glee‘s Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan, Scream Queens was a horror-comedy series with an all-star cast that included Jamie Lee Curtis and John Stamos. It’s unique brand of humor didn’t catch on, however, and the show was cancelled after just two seasons. In the years since, it has found a much bigger audience.

Looking back at Scream Queens, which debuted in 2015, Falchuk admits that it wasn’t clicking with people when it aired on Fox. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the producer said that something “wasn’t working” with the show when it was released, but that he “never had more fun.”

“I truly think so. I mean, it wasn’t working. People weren’t watching it. But I’ve never had more fun,” Falchuk explained. “Fox might not have been the right place for it, and I think it was a little ahead of its time. It probably belonged on a streamer. We were hitting on narcissism – that’s what the show is about – and, a few years later, people would’ve recognized it a little bit more. It was hard because viewers were like, ‘Why are these people all so terrible?’ They were all terrible! That’s what we were trying to say.”

The notion that Scream Queens would work a lot better today than in 2015 is one that’s shared by others involved with the show. In 2022, Emma Roberts talked with ComicBook.com and said it would be the perfect time to bring Scream Queens back for a third season. 

“I mean, look, I want a Scream Queens Season 3 and I think now’s the time. I don’t actually know who’s in charge of the yes or no to that, but yes, we should make that happen,” Roberts shared with ComicBook.com. “I’m so happy that people still love it so much, honestly, we had so much fun making it and the fact that I still see girls and guys dressing up as Chanel Oberlin for Halloween, it warms my heart. So I would love it, I would be so down.”

Of course, it also helps that several members of the cast have much higher profiles now than they did when Scream Queens first aired. That lineup includes Glen Powell, Keke Palmer, and Billie Lourd.