Mason Gooding makes the athletic nice boy worth keeping around, bringing warmth and a little relief to horror ensembles. We rate his company, though Scream 7 shows how little that counts when a script gives him so little to do.
Fi1m perspective
As Chad Meeks-Martin in Scream VI (2023), Mason Gooding brings welcome good humour to a film with plenty of tired talk. He is an athletic, affable presence, useful in a group without needing to dominate it. We warmed to Chad because Gooding supplies some levity amid the threats. He gives us a reason to stay interested in the people when the mystery is doing rather less to hold our attention.
Booksmart (2019) gave him a supporting role as Nick Howland under director Olivia Wilde. Love, Victor (2020–2022) then gave him a lead as Andrew Spencer, before Scream (2022) established him in horror as Chad. These parts fit a casting pattern of athletic, approachable young men. We would not confuse repeated casting with proof that this is all he can do. His work in the Scream ensemble is the strongest reason we have to keep watching.
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett directed his first two Scream appearances, and those remain the useful evidence of what he offers. In Scream VI, his expanded part puts him alongside Jasmin Savoy Brown as Chad’s twin, Mindy. Both actors are better served there than they would be in Scream 7 (2026). We have reservations about the sixth film’s dialogue and mystery, but Gooding’s contribution is one of the reasons we cannot dismiss it.
In Kevin Williamson’s Scream 7, Gooding has too little to do. Gooding and Brown are mostly there to remind us of the previous films, with little fresh work for either to do. We found that frustrating because their earlier contributions had made Chad and Mindy worth bringing back. The disappointment is in the writing, which assumes that recognition will be enough.
Heart Eyes (2025) gives him a lead in a slasher romantic comedy, a sensible use of his established strengths. His role as Zap in Gregg Araki’s I Want Your Sex (2026) also keeps comedy in view. We would like to see what happens when a script asks more of that affability. For Gooding, start with the earlier Scream films rather than the reunion.
Biography
Mason Gooding is an American actor. Born on 14 November 1996 in Los Angeles, he is the son of actor Cuba Gooding Jr. He attended Windward School in Los Angeles and studied at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts before dropping out to pursue acting.
Gooding had a recurring role in the HBO series Ballers (2018) and a starring role in the Hulu series Love, Victor (2020–2022). His film credits include Booksmart (2019), Let It Snow (2019), Scream (2022), Fall (2022), Scream VI (2023) and Scream 7 (2026), in which he plays Chad Meeks-Martin.
