Matthew Lillard has (sort of) returned to the Scream franchise once again after lending his voice in a couple of scenes for the latest film, director Tyler Gillett has revealed. In an interview discussing the latest instalment of the horror film franchise, Gillett told Bloody Disgusting that the Stu Macher actor was enlisted to make his own mark on Scream 5.
His first cameo, Gillett said, can be seen in the YouTube trailer for film-within-a-film Stab 8, where Lillard provides the voice for a flamethrower-armed Ghostface with the line, “this shit is lit.” Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, who co-directed the fifth Scream film with Gillett, added that Lillard did a second voice cameo during the party scene in the film. In a slightly meta nod to the house’s history, when Amber walks through the house, someone (Lillard) can be heard saying, “Cool house, Freeman.”
“That was an early joke,” Gillett added. “We thought that’d be funny to have Matt Lillard comment on how cool the house is; that just ended up actually happening.” This secret cameo means that as well as playing a main antagonist in the first Scream in the 90’s, Lillard has appeared in every one of thriller films in some way.
In Scream 2, he made a blink-and-you-miss-it appearance as an extra during the film’s fraternity party, while in Scream 3, a sound archive of his character Stu can be heard on the set of film-within-a-film Stab 3. Then, in Scream 4, he once again appears as an extra during the Stab-a-Thon party.
At one point, Lillard was meant to play a larger role in the franchise beyond cameos and easter eggs. In a 2009 podcast interview, Lillard revealed that he was originally meant to return as Macher for the third Scream film before the plan was scrapped and the script was drastically reworked to become the film we know today.
The fifth Scream movie, simply titled Scream, was released in theatres on January 14. While it is not yet available on streaming services, you can watch the other movies on Amazon Prime. Alternatively, if you are looking for a new slasher to watch between your fingers, here’s our list of the best horror movies of 2021.