Matthew Lillard Weighs in on Whether He'd Be Up for Returning to the SCREAM Franchise

Matthew Lillard kicked off his career in the first Scream movie (1996). He had appeared in a few films before it, like Serial Mom and Mad Love, but it was Scream that launched him to stardom. Lillard went on to star in many films and TV shows like She’s All That, Scooby-Doo (both live-action and animated), The Descendants, and many voice acting roles in animated shows and movies, including the start of his most recent horror franchise, Five Nights at Freddy’s.

When it comes to deciding if Lillard could ever return to the Scream franchise as his character Stu Macher, it has been long debated whether or not Stu was officially killed in the first movie. He was not shot in the head, as his partner in crime was, so some fans said there was hope. Others picked up on the fact that Lillard made an uncredited appearance in Scream 2 as a partygoer in the background of a scene, and though some took that as a sign, the filmmakers chalked it up to the actor visiting the set one day, and not actually reprising his role. The creators of the franchise have long-discounted the idea that Stu would return, but now that Scream 7 has fallen apart because of actors exiting the project just before it was set to be made, some wonder if a hail mary play could bring both Stu and original fans back to the franchise.

Lillard weighed in on whether he would even be up for that, having waffled on the idea in the past. He explained to FearHQ.com:

"I don’t know. Listen, this town in this day and age, and at my age, I’ve had a great career. I’ve come around second base and I’m heading for home. That’s a baseball analogy. We’re in stoppage time is a good football analogy in the UK. It’s something that I’m super proud of. I’m glad it’s in my life and my repertoire. I’m glad it’s part of my history and lineage. It would have to make a lot of sense to go back as a story and as filmmakers. I’m really thrilled to be involved with Five Nights at Freddy’s which has been a huge success and been a third franchise in my career, which I didn’t expect. I’m more excited about the upside and future of that than going back to doing something I’ve done before. All that said, we’ll see what happens. Nobody has called me [Laughs]. I’ll tell you that much. No one seems that interested in the return of Stu except for the fans. The fans are freaking out and love the idea, and I would argue that if you throw a TV on my head, I’ll survive. So, there you go!"

So you’re saying there’s a chance! I think it would be fun to see him return. He was fantastic in the first movie, and I think he could squeeze in one Scream movie between his next Five Nights at Freddy’s gigs. What do you think? Would you like to see Lillard return to the franchise?

Check out his entire interview below: