Matthew Lillard, who many know from roles in films like Scream, She’s All That, and Scooby-Doo, is embracing his super popular role in the 2023 live-action adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s for his next job, bringing his character to a popular video game.
While the Five Nights at Freddy’s story started as a video game, Lillard is making the leap to another well-known game, Dead by Daylight, which sees gamers play as either people trying to escape a dangerous killer, or the killer themselves.
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The game already features plenty of well-known villains and monsters, including Scream‘s own Ghostface, as well as the Demogorgon from Stranger Things, Michael Myers from Halloween, and Pyramid Head from Silent Hill. Now, the game is adding the character Springtrap from Five Nights at Freddy’s, to be known as “The Animatronic” in Dead by Daylight, and Lillard is voicing the character.
In the live-action film, Lillard played William Afton, the villain of the story, who gets inside the Springtrap animatronic to terrorize Josh Hutcherson‘s Mike and his sister Abby, played by Piper Rubio.
MATTHEW LILLARD RECORDING VOICELINES FOR SPRINGTRAP’S LEGENDARY! pic.twitter.com/dAn8GRi29F
— ƚɘɘvvb (@dvveet) May 9, 2025
Dead by Daylight shared a clip of Lillard recording his lines to celebrate the big news, and fans were super excited. The game will also feature a “Legendary” character skin of Springtrap with the helmet off, showing Lillard as Afton.
“ThE LEGENDARY SKIN??? IM SO HAPPY. OM MY GOD MATTHEW LILLARD IN DBD AND VOICING TOO? IM SOBBING,” wrote one fan, as another said, “matthew lillard in dbd oh i won.”
A third reacted to the news, saying, “AHHHH MATTHEW LILLARD IN DBD
@MatthewLillard I’m so happy to have you in my favorite game!!”
Dead by Daylight: Five Nights at Freddy’s. Summer 2025. pic.twitter.com/0WhuwApA4K
— Dead by Daylight (@DeadbyDaylight) May 9, 2025
The Five Nights at Freddy’s addition to Dead by Daylight is expected to arrive this summer. Lillard is also set to reprise the movie character for the upcoming sequel, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, coming out this December.
