Matthew Lillard knows a thing or two about surviving some of the best horror movies. After all, he played one of Scream’s most iconic killers, and he’s set to return for the upcoming Scream VII. But what if Ghostface came for another one of his classic characters? According to Lillard, Scooby-Doo’s Shaggy wouldn’t just survive one of the iconic slasher movies; he’d be the first one out of there. And, honestly, his reasoning is solid.
It was at MegaCon 2025 that the beloved Scooby-Doo actor shared his hilarious take on how Shaggy Rogers would handle being hunted by Ghostface. While many scary movie victims make the mistake of sticking around when things start going south, the Five Nights at Freddy’s actor argues that Shaggy’s instinct for self-preservation would kick in immediately. In the words of the actor (via People), Scooby’s best mate wouldn’t be an easy target:
[Shaggy] would 100% kick ass, ‘cause he would literally look at the first dead person and run for days. He would do what every normal person would do, which is like, ‘I’m out! I don’t wanna be here! I don’t need to save anyone else. I’m leaving.’
Honestly, he’s not wrong. Unlike most horror movie protagonists who make bafflingly bad decisions (splitting up, investigating noises, running upstairs instead of out the door), Shaggy would immediately nope out of the situation. And let’s be real—his track record for escaping monsters speaks for itself.
For decades, Scooby-Doo has given us some of the best animated mysteries and, if there’s one thing we’ve learned about Shaggy, it’s that he has an almost supernatural ability to escape danger, and old men in masks pretending to be ghosts. Shag and Scoob have a survival rate that the best horror characters could only dream of.
Even though the Mystery Inc. gang usually unmasks villains instead of facing supernatural killers, Matthew Lillard’s argument holds up. Shaggy would absolutely do what horror movie characters rarely do—run and never look back.
The beloved Hanna-Barbera cartoon has had its share of crazy cartoon crossovers. Still, it’s unlikely we’ll ever get a Scream/Scooby-Doo mashup, as fun as it is to imagine how the “meddling kids” would handle Ghostface. Given the SLC Punk! alum’s take, Shaggy would be long gone before things got too dangerous—though, knowing Scooby-Doo’s history, he’d probably end up accidentally catching the killer in the end.
The Michigan-born performer, now 55, is set to reprise his role as Stu Macher in some form for Scream 7, as the movie is bringing back a ton of legacy characters. It’s great to see him still having fun with both of his most famous characters. Whether he’s playing a villain in the classic horror movie franchise or a beloved cartoon icon, one thing’s clear: Lillard will always be a fan favorite.
You can revisit Matthew Lillard in the original Scream trilogy, which is streamable on Max. As for the next installment, it’s set to hit theaters on February 27, 2026. Until then, check out our 2025 release schedule to see what other upcoming horror movies are releasing soon.