Matthew Lillard is having a serious Hollywood comeback, and he has a very blunt theory about why it is happening.
The ‘Scooby-Doo’ and ‘Scream’ actor said during an appearance on the ‘Phase Hero’ podcast that nostalgia may be doing a lot of the heavy lifting in his career resurgence. Lillard has been popping up in major projects again, from ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ to ‘Daredevil: Born Again,’ and he seems both amused and brutally honest about it.
“‘Scooby-Doo’ one and two are more popular now than they ever were when they came out,” Lillard said.
Then he went straight for the bigger point. “I do think there’s a weird nostalgia thing happening in our industry and in the zeitgeist because I think that people are longing for ye olde times,” he added.
Lillard Says Nostalgia Helped His Comeback
Lillard did not try to dress it up as some mysterious career strategy. “I think that’s one of the reasons I’m having this moment to be honest, is because I was identified in that moment, so people are hiring me again,” he said.
Then came the quote fans are probably going to remember. “I think that’s why I’m working. I don’t think anyone really likes me. They just miss the old times,” Lillard joked. It is a funny line, but it also hits a real nerve in Hollywood right now. Studios are reaching hard for familiar names, familiar franchises and actors tied to movies people watched when they were younger. For Lillard, that means Shaggy, Stu Macher, and a whole lot of late ‘90s and early 2000s goodwill.
‘Scooby-Doo 2’ Changed His Career In A Hard Way
Lillard has spoken before about how his career did not go the way he expected after ‘Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.’
He said in 2024 that after reprising Shaggy, he thought he would be “No. 1 on the call sheet for the next 10 years of movies.” The movie’s box office performance changed that expectation fast. “The exact opposite happened,” he said.
Lillard admitted that the experience forced him to rethink what he wanted from acting. “I was caught up in the success of what I was doing, I was caught up in the parts I was getting, I was caught up in this drive to be quote-unquote famous,” he said. He added, “I’ve gone through good patches and bad patches. I’ve been irrelevant and thought I was never going to work again.”
His Career Is Suddenly Heating Up Again
Lillard’s major reintroduction came in 2023 when he played William Afton in ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s.’
Since then, the momentum has been hard to miss. His recent and upcoming credits include ‘The Life of Chuck,’ ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,’ ‘Scream 7,’ and ‘Daredevil: Born Again.’
He is also set to appear in Mike Flanagan’s ‘Carrie’ TV series and star alongside Pedro Pascal, Will Arnett, and Olivia Wilde in Tony Gilroy’s ‘Behemoth!’
Maybe Hollywood really does miss the old times. Maybe audiences do too. Either way, Lillard is working again, and he seems self-aware enough to laugh at the whole thing while cashing the checks.
