Matthew Lillard has a refreshingly self-aware theory about why Hollywood has come calling again, and it has nothing to do with a sudden rediscovery of his talent.
Speaking on the Phase Hero podcast, Lillard pointed squarely at nostalgia as the driving force behind his recent resurgence.
“Scooby-Doo one and two are more popular now than they ever were when they came out. So 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 said.
“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 followed that up with a laugh: “I think that’s why I’m working. I don’t think anyone really likes me. They just miss the old times.”
It is a candid take from someone who has been through considerable Hollywood turbulence.
After reprising his role as Shaggy in Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Lillard had expected it to launch a new chapter.
Instead, when the film underperformed at the box office, the opposite happened. He told Business Insider in 2024 that he had been convinced he would be “No. 1 on the call sheet for the next 10 years of movies”, and then spent years feeling irrelevant.
“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 admitted.
“I’ve gone through good patches and bad patches. I’ve been irrelevant and thought I was never going to work again.”
The turnaround began in 2023, when he was cast as William Afton in Five Nights at Freddy’s.
Since then, the momentum has been building steadily. His recent credits include The Life of Chuck, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, Scream 7 and Daredevil: Born Again.
Coming up, he will appear in Mike Flanagan’s Carrie TV series and star alongside Pedro Pascal, Will Arnett and Olivia Wilde in Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth.
Nostalgia or not, that is quite a line-up.
