{"id":419014,"date":"2026-04-26T21:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T21:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/419014\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T21:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T21:36:10","slug":"matthew-lillard-says-nostalgia-is-one-of-the-reasons-hollywood-is-hiring-me-again-i-dont-think-anyone-really-likes-me-they-just-miss-the-old-tim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/419014\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew Lillard Says Nostalgia Is \u2018One of the Reasons\u2019 Hollywood Is \u2018Hiring Me Again\u2019: \u2018I Don\u2019t Think Anyone Really Likes Me. They Just Miss the Old Times\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matthew Lillard said during a recent appearance on the \u201cPhase Hero<\/a>\u201d podcast that he thinks nostalgia played a major role in his recent Hollywood resurgence.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Scooby-Doo\u2019 one and two are more popular now than they ever were when they came out. So I do think there\u2019s a weird nostalgia thing happening in our industry and in the zeitgeist because I think that people are longing for ye olde times,\u201d Lillard said. \u201cI think that\u2019s one of the reasons I\u2019m having this moment to be honest, is because I was identified in that moment, so people are hiring me again.\u201d<\/p>\n

More from Variety<\/p>\n

He later added with a laugh, \u201cI think that\u2019s why I\u2019m working. I don\u2019t think anyone really likes me. They just miss the old times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lillard told Business Insider in 2024 that after reprising the role of Shaggy in \u201cScooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed,\u201d he thought he\u2019d be \u201cNo. 1 on the call sheet for the next 10 years of movies.\u201d But unfortunately, after the film bombed at the box office, \u201cthe exact opposite happened.\u201d Lillard said at the time, the experience forced him to reprioritize his goals as an actor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d Lillard admitted<\/a>. He later added, \u201cI\u2019ve gone through good patches and bad patches. I\u2019ve been irrelevant and thought I was never going to work again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lillard\u2019s first major reintroduction to Hollywood was in 2023 when he played William Afton in \u201cFive Nights at Freddy\u2019s.\u201d Since then, his career has been on a steady upswing. Other recent credits include \u201cThe Life of Chuck,\u201d \u201cFive Nights and Freddy\u2019s 2,\u201d \u201cScream 7\u201d and \u201cDaredevil: Born Again.\u201d He will soon appear in Mike Flanagan\u2019s \u201cCarrie\u201d TV show and star alongside Pedro Pascal, Will Anrett and Olivia Wilde in Tony Gilroy\u2019s \u201cBehemoth!\u201d<\/p>\n

Best of Variety<\/p>\n

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matthew Lillard said during a recent appearance on the \u201cPhase Hero\u201d podcast that he thinks nostalgia played a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[2356,321,93,3211,61,60,20355],"class_list":{"0":"post-419014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-business-insider","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-hollywood","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-matthew-lillard"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}