Five Nights at Freddy's star Matthew Lillard shares incredible behind-the-scenes photo paying respect to one of his best roles from 20 years ago

Five Nights at Freddy's movie
(Image credit: Universal Pictures)

Matthew Lillard shared a special behind-the-scenes pic to celebrate the release date of Five Nights at Freddy 2 – and it includes an old friend.

In the photo, which can be seen below, Lillard is wearing his Springtrap suit and posing next to the Scooby Doo puppet that was made for the live-action film franchise. The caption reads: "December 2025. I ALWAYS COME BACK."

The animatronic costumes for the live-action Five Nights at Freddy movie were made by Jim Henson's Creature Shop – which also made the puppet for the 2002 movie that Lillard starred in as Shaggy Rogers. A CGI Scoob was used for the film instead, but the studio still kept the puppet for posterity. It warms our hearts to see Shaggy and Scooby together again, even if the circumstances are a little weird.

Though the plot details have yet to be revealed, the sequel will most likely follow the events and characters of the second game, but we wouldn't mind seeing Josh Hutcherson's Mike make a comeback (as well as a Markiplier cameo. MatPat simply wasn't enough). The first film grossed $297.2 million against a budget of $20 million and became a huge streaming hit, breaking records for both Peacock and Blumhouse.

Lillard plays the franchise's true villain, William Afton, a sadistic child murderer who poses as Mike's career counselor in the first film. If the sequel launches an all-out film franchise, we could be seeing Lillard reprise the role for many more movies to come.

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is set to hit theaters on December 5, 2025. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2024 and beyond.

Lauren Milici
Senior Writer, Tv & Film

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for 12DOVE currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.