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With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 now in theaters, two iconic faces of ‘90s horror are sharing the big screen once more. The film, based on the popular video game franchise, sees Matthew Lillard reprise his role as the evil William Afton, the serial killer in control of the animatronics in the first movie. He has less of a presence in this sequel, but a good friend is there to pick up the slack: his Scream partner-in-crime Skeet Ulrich.
[Ed note: The rest of this article contains full spoilers for the ending of Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.]
Ulrich plays Henry, father to one of Afton’s early victims and also the killer’s former business partner in the founding of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. That last bit is kept hidden until the end of the movie’s credits, setting the stage for quite a showdown in a third Five Nights at Freddy’s movie, should it happen.
Henry has never appeared in any of the games, but Ulrich’s performance makes him a bright spot of the otherwise disappointing movie. It’s also an exciting moment for horror fans, given Ulrich’s history. The actor originally shot to fame as one half of the killer Ghostface duo in the original Scream, alongside Lillard. And while this is the first time the two are working together on a movie outside of that slasher franchise, Lillard tells Polygon they’ve remained close over the years.
“I see him all the time,” Lillard says. “We do conventions a bunch every year, so when we go away on those weekends, we eat every meal together. He’s one of my best friends in the world. I see him more than most of my friends from high school.”
Unfortunately, while they’re still spending their time together at cons, they don’t actually get to interact on set. Ulrich and Lillard don’t share any scenes in the movie. Afton actually appears entirely in dream sequences, though his return is teased at the end of the film.
However, Lillard is hopeful a third movie will be ordered by Universal Pictures, which he believes will dig deep into the story between the two characters.
“I think [fans are] going to be really excited about who he plays versus who I play,” Lillard says. “They’ve always said out loud that they want to do three films. If this weekend goes the way we’re all hoping it goes, they’ll do a third film. And I think that relationship really plays out in a really powerful way in the third film.
“Lillard is also confident Ulrich knows how special it is to be in a project adapted from a beloved video game series.
“The good news about Skeet and I is that we both care deeply about fandoms,” he says. “The way we interact with the Scream fans the way I’ve been interacting (and now he’s interacting) with Five Nights fans, it’s about holding up that community and sort of seeing them, respecting them, and adoring that fandom.”
Some actors might buckle under that pressure. Lillard, on the other hand, seems to thrive in it.
“[Afton’s] this iconic character that people adore, that that fanbase has built up in their minds over the last 15, 17, 18 years,” he says. “And so to step into those shoes, deliver in a way that people, for the most part, were happy with the performance, and then be welcomed and celebrated in that community, is awesome. It’s different than going off and doing a movie and sort of letting it go off into the ether. It’s a standing piece of legacy that as an actor you’re proud of.”
And with the second movie in that potential trilogy in theaters now, the wait begins for word on a third and final installment. Whatever the case, Lillard is ready for the next step in his FNAF journey.
“I know it sounds sort of cliche, but playing an iconic character for a fanbase that’s as voracious as the FNAF fanbase is a gift.”
Five Night’s at Freddy’s 2 is in theaters now.
