Matthew Lillard Almost Played Negan in THE WALKING DEAD Universe

Matthew Lillard is a busy Hollywood actor, with roles in the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise, The Life of Chuck, many voice acting roles, and an anticipated return to the Scream franchise, he has a full calendar acting, promoting, and shooting new projects.

While he will be known for the roles he has returned to over and over like Shaggy in Scooby-Doo, Stu from Scream, and William Afton in FNAF, he almost landed a role that would have gone down as one of his most memorable.

In a recent interview with Comic Book Resources, Lillard explained that he auditioned (several times) for a major villainous role in AMC’s hit series The Walking Dead:

“I’ve auditioned for things. I’ve talked about this a couple of times, but The Walking Dead. I auditioned for that four times. Four times. The showrunner and I were doing Hall H down in San Diego [Comic-Con], and I was doing Twin Peaks, and Walking Dead was right behind us. And he was like, ‘I love your work. You were so close.'“

Lillard explained that he actually had the role for a hot second, without knowing it, as Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who ultimately went on to play Negan, was taking a while to respond to the showrunner:

“He said, ‘You were actually Negan for five minutes because Jeffrey Dean Morgan had the offer. He wasn’t responding and the team clocked it, and they made the move to go to you.’”

Lillard went on to share that he doesn't think he would have shared the same story arc as Morgan's Negan, given their physical differences and performance types. While Lillard would have been great in the role, it would have really changed the character.

Lillard gave Morgan props, saying, "He's great - different and masculine." And it all worked out just fine for both of them.