Matthew Lillard Discusses Quest’s End Druid and His Dream Collaborator – Interview

Matthew Lillard on Quest’s End Druid, fandoms, and building a fantasy whiskey universe.

Coming off an amazing year of sold-out releases, Matthew Lillard’s Find Familiar Spirits is launching Season 2 of its fantasy-inspired spirits line, Quest’s End Whiskey, with its newest release: Druid. Accompanied by Chapter Five of Dawn of the Unbound Gods, Druid marks the beginning of a new four-bottle lineup, with Monk, Wizard, and Revenant to follow. I had the chance to talk with Lillard about his creative process, what being seen truly means, his experience with the Five Nights at Freddy’s fandom, and why community is always at the heart of what he builds.

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S: Congratulations on Quest’s End Druid! I want to start off with something you said about it: Druid is kind of honoring the journey of embracing change, connection, and the wild, magical truth of becoming yourself. I love that phrase. Can you tell me about a moment in your life or career when you felt seen or accepted for who you are and how it affected you?

M: Oh, God, that’s a great question. Wow, what a good question. Well, look, I always say to actors, young actors, like the first step into becoming a professional artist or growing into your own self is by saying out loud what you are, right? And the idea of like, you know, I used to be so nervous about saying I’m an actor because it was always followed up with, “Oh, yeah, what have you been in,” “What’s your fallback position,” “What’s your backup,” or “What’s your safety net?” I was always intimidated and nervous about saying it out loud. It’s not until you can own that moment that you can grow into that power.

And so, I speak to that a lot, going through acting school and learning the power of saying out loud what you are was very powerful for me. I also believe in the ability that in moments of conventions or finding fans, I try deeply to be present and available for everyone who comes to my line, so I can make them feel seen. So even though those moments are brief and the connection is fleeting, I still think it can have profound effects on people if you are present enough to be available for what it means to other people, right, and serving people that come through.

I mean, I wear this one bracelet, it says, ‘Protect trans kids,’ on my arm and I do think that if we are going to walk through the world and sort of demand or expect people to give us respect, every human on Earth, then you should offer respect as much as possible. And so, these trans kids in these moments of this current administration and the political climate, everything we can do to sort of honor, protect, and love anyone and everyone’s sort of going through these really profound human sort of moments.

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Creating meaningful moments at conventions.

S: Well, not only have I experienced that myself, but I’ve had friends who have met you at conventions, and I’ve seen so many online stories, and you really do make those moments special.

M: I try. I mean, I try.

S: Yeah, my friends have said it, too. I’m like, “I know, he’s the best.” You should be proud because that does not always happen.

M: This is the best interview ever.

S: Listen, when there’s some positivity, I feel like I need to share that; everyone says that about you. You have a good reputation when it comes to conventions.

M: I’ll refer them to my wife and kids. I’m sure they can correct a lot of the misnomers out there.

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Building a whiskey universe through storytelling.

S: Now, Druid is going to be accompanied by a new chapter of Dawn of the Unbound Gods, and there’s also the flavor and artwork that help tell the story. I feel like people don’t always realize those elements are a crucial part of the storytelling. How do you feel when everything comes together and you see the final product?

M: Yeah, I mean, it’s so funny. It’s like my day in and day out, month after month, now year after year, is about building all of that inside stuff. I mean, to me, once we launch and go on the market, we immediately move on. We don’t celebrate sort of, you know, the thing where you’re like, there’s a million things to do every time you get done with the one bottle, right? The next bottle needs attention. Right now, we’re rewriting Monk, we’re doing art for Wizard, we’re talking about barrels for Revenant.

So even season one, which ends in 2026, we’re still knee deep and making sure that we can deliver for everyone. I mean, the reality is that we’ve put our name on a brand, we’ve built something that we want people to respect, and to look forward to participating in, and to do that, it takes a lot of effort and a lot of passion to deliver at that level every time.

I mean, our whole edict, our North Star, is like, what do we give to the fans, not what we sell the fans and the reality is that everything with Quest’s End, and the continuation of the story, Tyler’s work, Andrea’s words, that is a love letter. Our joy is to like, yes, we want to give you an incredible bottle of whiskey that you enjoy at your table, you enjoy with your friends, but the reality is that we want to give you something else.

We want to plus up that experience. We don’t want to just transact on your passion. We don’t want to sell you something framing it as Dungeons and Dragons or gaming, and not deliver something for you. So, I think, to me, a great example of that is Macabre. I mean, we were just talking about it a second ago, Macabre Spirits just got into the wild, and seeing people unbox these and have this experience, looking at Mike’s work, Mike Flanagan, who wrote the novella, that is rewarding, and it reminds you that what we’re doing is intentional and has value to the community that we’re serving.

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Why Quest’s End is all about community.

S: You can definitely tell the attention that goes into every aspect. You also have a new Fam Club community membership, where fans become “fam.” What inspired that, and why was it important for the company?

M: Well, we always say as a company, we are not a whiskey company, we’re a community company that sells whiskey, is built around whiskey, or built around spirits. That was the worst way to say that, but our whole thing is like, we are a community company first. And so, primarily, we wanted people to have a better ability to engage with other people in the community. Right now, it’s like we are the centerpiece, and everyone sort of comes to us, and the reality is that we want to connect people. Now, look, we hope that goes well. I mean, we’re still a young company, and we can make mistakes. I’m sure that that community could end up becoming just a place for people to kvetch.

But our hope is that people find each other and they build out cool experiences, and that it furthers sort of their commitment to not only our brand, but like the RPG space or the horror space. These communities are rich and self-identifying, and we’re just giving another option for people to celebrate the things they love. Also in reality, it’s $50 a year, but it’s a 15% discount, so while there is a cost to it, if you are an active member in our community, that 15% will go a long way to making it more affordable to people and in these times, we are concerned that people can still enjoy the thing they love and it not break the bank.

Also, behind the ropes experience, we talk about that a lot, like having a conversation with our master blender, or sitting down and I’m going to do a podcast that’s for this community, like the idea of doing things where we don’t want it to be for the whole world, we want it to be for our community. And so, creating those experiences, like we’re throwing a party at Gen Con. We think that there’s a lot of value in those things.

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Finding belonging in art and fandom.

S: There is, and that leads perfectly into my next question. Fandom can really change someone’s life. What was the first time you personally felt welcomed into a community? And what fandom has meant the most to you to be a part of as an actor?

M: Well, yeah, for sure. So for me, acting. I was an obese teenager with a learning disability, I talk about that all the time, I was overweight, braces, glasses, and high school sucked. In junior high school, I found acting, it’s the only thing I’ve ever been fully committed to in my entire life, and those are my people, that’s my tribe. I mean, so for me, finding acting, finding artists, finding other people that love the thing I singularly loved, was a huge difference maker in my life, obviously. I’m still an artist, I still teach, I’m still actively involved. So acting is the community I most identify with.

Then in terms of fandoms, look, there’s fans of Scream, there’s fans of Scooby-Doo, like all those things are fine. The reality is that the Five Nights at Freddy’s fans are the one place that I was like, ‘Oh, I am here to serve this community,’ and it’s a very different perspective than being an object of the community, right?

So I think that people see you in Scream and are like, “Oh my God, you’re the guy in Scream,” but I feel my job as William Afton of FNAF is to make sure I’m delivering for that community. It’s a very different perspective. I’ve never articulated this before, but my job is to make sure I’m holding up William Afton and making that part as special for them as it is for them, because that character is so identifiable, so, I don’t know if beloved is the right word, but it’s a big deal and I don’t want to be the one to screw it up. So I find a lot of responsibility to serving that FNAF community.

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Serving the Five Nights at Freddy’s community.

S: I’m not going to ask for FNAF 2 spoilers, we’ll talk again when that comes out. However, I want to ask you about the response you got to the first movie. You are getting a sequel so soon after, and fans are really looking forward to seeing you continue the story. What does that mean to know that your performance was so well-received with the responsibility you felt?

M: Listen, to be fair, I think those movies were bound for greatness, whether I’m in it or not.

S: Oh, you were a big part of it.

M: Yeah, but let’s be clear. If it’s somebody other than me, those movies are still fantastic. The storytelling is based on IP that is adored. That community is rich, and it’s a deep community with deep ties to the IP. So, I’m a small cog in a very, very big machine.

S: You’re a big, loved part of it. People loved your performance, and I’m giving you your flowers.

M: People enjoyed the film, that’s the good news. So yeah, again, my job is to serve them. I’m thrilled to be part of it, but the reality is that you just don’t want to screw it up.

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What’s Next: Monk, Wizard, and Revenant

S: You didn’t, and I’m excited to see you back in that role. I will be first in line at the theater. You’re also going to have the High Rollers Guild lineup, which will include a pre-order of four bottles in the season, starting with Druid. Can you tell me a little bit about the next three bottles?

M: Yeah, I mean, the next three bottles, so Druid comes out, and then we go to Monk, then Wizard, and then Revenant, keeping the same sort of three classes and the baddie at the end. I can tell you that it’s important to us that we vary our liquid, that we want people to explore with us different avenues of what they’re drinking, right? So it’s not going to be a different blend of Kentucky Bourbon.

It’s going to be varied, and we’re going to be aggressive in doing things that we’re really excited about, right? And we think the community is really going to be excited about. So that, to me, is important that as we continue to tell the story, we’re giving people a reason to come back over 16 different drops, and that every time they’re getting a bottle from us, they’re excited. 

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S: Was there a particular reason you started with Druid?

M: It was my favorite class, and when we launched the entire Quest’s End, we planned out all four seasons, right? So there are four seasons, each season has four drops. So we’re doing 16 total bottles. Those bottles will tell the complete story of Saren of the Pit. And so, in planning out the company back in its nascent day, early on, and we’re planning classes, my favorite class is Druid, so I was like, if the company craps out and we only get to five bottles, I’ve got to get Druid in early so that I could have my bottle. So it’s just selfish. That’s how we ended on Druid here. But look, each one of the classes tells a continuation of the story.

This year, we’re working with Andrea Stewart, she’s a new writer for us. Last year, we worked with Kate Welch, who was incredible. But Andrea has come on board, and what we thought the story was going [to be], it’s changing. We’re letting her sort of speak her truth in these stories. So it’s fun. It’s really great. You know, again, a collaboration between creatives with the intention of like, okay, what can we deliver to the community that people are going to dig? I think she’s done a great job.

Tyler Jacobson, world-renowned artist, stayed on board. The art is incredible. We just saw the first reveal internally of Wizard, the bottle iconography on the front, the emblem, and the Wizard bottle is going to be super dope. So it’s fun.

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Matthew Lillard’s Dream collaborators and the future of Macabre Spirits.

S: You’ve done some great collaborations recently. Is there anyone on your collaborators list that you want to work with next? We’ll manifest for you.

M: Oh, wow. That’s a good question. Yeah, I mean, look, I did The Life of Chuck, which is a movie that Mike Flanagan directed. It’s so good, it’s such a special movie, and I love it. It’s a novella from Stephen King, and so I think Macabre Spirits has the ability to go out and find fresh new voices.

We can find people to sort of tell their novella story that we can build a spirit around, but to just put it in the universe, Stephen King would be an incredible person to collaborate with on something like this. So that’s mine, and I will say that Mike Flanagan was a dream come true. So everything else other than Mike is going to be gravy, so.

This interview with Matthew Lillard has been edited for clarity.

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