Who Plays William Afton In The Five Nights At Freddy's Movie?

Thanks to the long-awaited "Five Nights at Freddy's" movie, fans of the horror game franchise have finally gotten their first true look at the series' overarching antagonist: the man behind the slaughter himself, William Afton. Indeed, the true appearance of the character has long been shrouded in mystery, with him usually taking on the monstrous visage of a broken-down animatronic mascot in the games. After years' worth of brief teases at his human form through easter eggs and peripheral materials, the feature film adaptation has fully showcased what the demented owner of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria looked like before he became a supernatural entity.

Once longtime fans can get over the thrill of seeing Afton in a form that isn't a rotting, undead corpse trapped in an animatronic suit, they may find themselves wondering just who has the distinction of bringing the character to life on the silver screen for the first time. As it happens, Afton's actor is someone who die-hard fans of the "Scooby-Doo" and "Scream" franchises will no doubt recognize: Matthew Lillard.

In the many years that Matthew Lillard has been acting, he's accrued a massive list of credits. Nonetheless, his two most iconic roles come from two horror-comedy classics from the late '90s and early '00s. First came Lillard's role in the original "Scream," in which he portrayed Stu Macher, the villainous accomplice of the very first Ghostface killer. Several years later, the actor would jump onto the cast of the 2002 live-action "Scooby-Doo" movie, in which he played the titular detective dog's cowardly best friend Shaggy Rogers — a role that he continues to reprise for various projects to this very day.

Outside of those franchises, Lillard has appeared in such movies as 1995's crime-drama "Hackers," the 1999 rom-com "She's All That," and the 2011 dramedy "The Descendants." He has also guest starred in episodes of many popular TV shows, including "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "House," "Criminal Minds," "The Good Wife," the "Twin Peaks" revival, "Bosch," and "Billions." Recent years saw Lillard star as part of the main cast for NBC's crime comedy series "Good Girls" as Dean Boland.

In some ways, Lillard's role in "Five Nights at Freddy's" is a return to his horror-centric roots. It's also a role that fans should expect to see the actor in for quite some time, as he confirmed via an interview with WeeklyMTG that he has signed a three-picture deal for the movie franchise.