He’s crossing from one franchise to another.
Matthew Lillard joins the hit Prime Video show “Cross” for Season 2, playing a billionaire, Lance.
“I’ve been an actor since I was 14,” Lillard exclusively told The Post.
“I found something that I loved, and I’ve been doing it my entire life. There is this privilege of having that sort of conviction and clarity of who you are and what you want to do. I share that with Lance.”
The Hollywood veteran, who is best known for “Scream,” “Scooby Doo” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” called himself a, “blue collar actor,” and said that the role in “Cross” wasn’t just handed to him.
“There’s something really alluring about going in and fighting for a job.”
The “Scream” star explained that he had no idea that “Cross” would be a success, because Season 1 “hadn’t even dropped a trailer” at the time that he auditioned.
“So I got lucky in that this is a massive hit show, and I get to be a part of Season 2.”
Returning for Season 2, “Cross” is based on the Alex Cross book series by bestselling author James Patterson.
Set in Washington, D.C., “Cross” is a crime drama following Alex Cross (Aldis Hodge, also an exec producer), a homicide detective and forensic psychologist. In Season 2, Cross is in pursuit of a vigilante who is hunting down billionaires, such as Lance.
Lillard said that joining a show after its first season can sometimes, “Feel like going to other people’s Thanksgiving dinners, when you’re a guest. You don’t know the traditions. You don’t know the inside jokes. You don’t know the cast and crew.”
He added that Hodge, who exec produces the show too, and showrunner Ben Watkins, “created this community on set that makes everyone feel welcome.”
The “Five Nights at Freddy’s” actor is having a busy year.
In addition to “Cross,” Lillard will also be in Mike Flanagan’s “Carrie” miniseries for Prime Video (based on the Stephen King novel that was also a 1976 film starring Sissy Spacek).
“It’s adapted for modern times,” he teased about the show, which hasn’t announced a premiere date, yet. “Bullying right now looks very different than it did back in the ‘80s. And so there is this modernization of the storytelling that is incredibly exceptional.”
He’s also joining the “Daredevil” franchise for Season 2 of “Daredevil: Born Again” on Disney+, and he’s making his big return to the “Scream” franchise with “Scream 7” (premiering Feb. 27) after his villain character, Stu, appeared to die in 1996’s “Scream.”
The actor said that when original franchise writer Kevin Williamson, who is returning to direct, called Lillard to invite the actor back, “I was over the moon. I was giddy with excitement. I’ve been sort of soft playing the argument that Stu is still alive for like the last 20 years.”
He hasn’t seen the film yet, but knows “the entire layout of what happens in that movie.”
“And the funny thing is that I haven’t told a single person.”
He quipped, “I am very slutty when it comes to telling secrets. So the fact that I’ve kept this a secret is pretty remarkable!”
