[This story contains spoilers from Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.]
More than a decade into her career and Elizabeth Lail is still pinching herself.
The 33-year-old actress first captured audiences’ attention with her role as Princess Anna in the fourth season of Once Upon a Time. She later gained more recognition with her portrayal of Guinevere Beck in Netflix’s You, becoming Penn Badgley’s Joe Goldberg’s season one obsession who ultimately saw a tragic fate.
While Lail is enjoying the thrill of her flourishing career that she’s put in the work for, she admits there’s still that “stream of consciousness of self-doubt that can creep in” ever so often. But once her projects connect with audiences, she’s reminded she’s exactly where she’s meant to be.
And currently, that’s starring as Vanessa Shelly in the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise, which just released its sequel following the box office success of the first installment in 2023.
Lail confesses to The Hollywood Reporter that she’s a “huge scaredy cat” when it comes to watching horror films, but as an actor, “I’m super interested in inhabiting those spaces, that kind of deep fear and that fighting-for-your-life kind of experience.”
Below, Lail breaks down her character’s arc in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 and what she would love to see in a potential third film in the horror franchise. She also reflects on returning for the final season of You earlier this year and the biggest challenge she’s overcome.
Going back to the beginning, what made you want to pursue a career as an actor?
I feel like I’ve had a bit of a come-to-Jesus moment with that recently. Looking back, I realized the first time I felt a real sense of belonging was doing theater in middle school and high school, and being part of that crew and [with] my friends. It’s one of the first times I was like, “Oh, this is what it’s like to be a human being and really feel like you are meant to be somewhere or a part of something.” I think I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since. Of course, storytelling is incredibly important and creates catharsis and joy and mirrors back what it is to be human, and I believe in all of that very deeply as well. But I think deep down, the reason why I keep coming back to it is I feel useful and feel that sense of belonging.
What was your initial reaction to seeing the box office success of the first Five Nights at Freddy’s installment?
Surprised! I knew it was a huge franchise and that it had that potential, but I have a lot of practice in my career and I think this keeps me grounded. I don’t ever expect too much, only to save myself from disappointment, perhaps. I know I got so much from being a part of the film and making the film, going back to that sense of belonging; that collaborative experience I loved so much. I loved working on the film [so much] that it’s always a bonus if people bother to watch. In this case, many people watched it. And it goes back to that idea of having this collaborative experience on set and then bringing it into theaters where young people or their parents have this really collective, fun experience. At least that’s how it was described to me by the people going to see it. Then they’d go home and watch it on Peacock. And I thought, what a delight. I know things that have been that for me, like Gilmore Girls, what a delight. So it’s really sweet and amazing to be a part of something that could delight so many people.
Is that a strange experience, getting that feeling when you watch Gilmore Girls, as you mentioned, and then to be the one providing that for other viewers?
It’s always weird. I did not grow up in show business. I had no connection to it whatsoever. So I still very much identify as a regular civilian. Then I’ll be walking in Manhattan and hear someone screaming Five Nights at Freddy’s, and be like, “Wait, that’s me!” So I’m surprised, and it’s surreal and I’ve been very lucky in my career to be part of a few things that are very loved. But this is special.
Going into Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, what were you looking forward to most about returning to the role of Vanessa Shelley?
I love how in this film we go a little bit deeper. In the first film, we were just getting a “hi, hello,” drop the bomb of her being such an integral part of the Freddy’s franchise because of her father. And in this one, we go deeper into her psyche, her trauma and what she’s attempting to overcome, which is an impossible thing. Just like the fans, I’m getting to know her in real time. As I get the script, I’m like, “Oh, here’s more information about her.” That’s always exciting, like reading a good book where you’re learning more and more about your character.
Following the first film’s shocking ending and your character surviving after being stabbed by her dad, William Afton (Matthew Lillard), did you approach your character differently for the sequel?
I don’t know if I approached her differently because I think she has the same patterns, which is to deflect and bury and avoid. A lot of us have those patterns. Even when you’re working on them, there’s this funny quote: “You may think you’re healed and then you go home for Thanksgiving to see your family, and that is not the case. You are not healed.” I think that speaks a lot to Vanessa. She’s making all these attempts at being normal and OK, but the reality is that her father is so deeply ingrained into her spirit and psyche to a horrifying degree.
For the sequel, what shocked or surprised you the most once you read the script?
I think the various animatronics. We’ve got toy animatronics, the withered animatronics and then the OG ones. I’m learning more and more about this franchise the more films we do, and I’m sure I’ll continue to learn about it because all the lore is never-ending. But there’s a new animatronic, which is my favorite: Mango, this crazy spider, many arms situation. It goes back to the collaboration of the puppeteers, and then I’m fighting this giant puppet, but it’s a metal puppet. You know what I mean? (Laughs) The second one is even more of a ride. While I was filming, there’s a big car scene and we do some of it on the road and then we do some of it on the stage on hydraulics. I was like, “Oh, this is Universal’s Five Nights at Freddy’s ride. This should be it.” You should get in the car, have the walkie-talkie because we’re old school, and then you should have giant animatronics attack you. (Laughs.)
How was it reuniting with Josh Hutcherson again?
I adore Josh. He’s so smart and good at what he does. He’s been doing it for such a long time. Whenever I feel lost, I always feel like I can grab onto Josh and be like, “OK, what are we doing? Where are we?” And he’s like, “Well, we’re going to do this setup, and then we’re going to turn around,” and he understands all the technical elements so well because he’s such a pro. I just adore him as a friend. I’m so grateful to know him and work with him.
In a potential third film, what are your hopes for your character?
Based on the end… I don’t know what the third movie would be about, but I’m sure Scott, the game creator, already has it cooking. My theory would be that Vanessa is possessed, but possessed in civilian clothing. Not everyone knows, and she is just fucking with everything from that evil place. That would be fun for me as an actor, to be tapping into the villain energy, but not overtly. Then of course, Mike would have to free her, which turns it into a fairytale. But that would be a part of the struggle.
Earlier this year, you also returned for the fifth and final season of You via flashbacks. How was that experience coming back years after season one?
It was really exciting because they decided in the final season to give Beck her due course and justice. That meant a lot to me, and I didn’t realize that. You play a character and then you let them go, but then when I was back doing it, I was like, “Oh, they don’t ever really leave you.” I remember getting emotional about the ending and this idea that she was OK, and that he did not win out in the end. That was another incredible experience creating that show. I don’t know if I did every season, but I would come back in little ways for a few of the later seasons, and it was always fun to reconnect with Penn [Badgley] and the writers and showrunners and all these people that when we were making it. We had no idea what it would be. We were just doing it for the love of the game. I always love reconnecting with them.
Having previously starred in the horror movie Countdown and then Five Nights and now the sequel, what are your thoughts on the genre. What do you love most about horror movies?
It’s often some great metaphor for life, good and evil. It could be really terrifying, but there’s usually some deeper meaning. Although some movies are just terrifying, I’m grateful for the horror genre because I think it’s one of the genres keeping people in theaters post-COVID and in our modern-day streaming world, which is special and needed. I will say my experience of horror films is I’m a huge scaredy cat, so if you took me to a horror film, including Five Nights at Freddy’s, I scream, I jump. I often can be seen closing my ears because I believe if I can’t hear it, I’ll be protected. It’s interesting, as an actor, I’m super interested in inhabiting those spaces, that kind of deep fear and that fighting-for-your-life kind of experience. But as an audience member, I’m just terrified.
Do you have a dream role or genre you would love to take on in the future?
I don’t necessarily have a specific role, although there are a lot of plays I’ve read where, of course, I would be over the moon to play any Tennessee Williams character or Arthur Miller character. But what I’m always looking for is a lot of deep complexity. I’m looking for particularly women who are struggling and complex and contain multitudes. I think a part of that is because I relate and I see that in life so deeply, so that’s always what I’m attracted to in my roles.
What’s one of the biggest challenges you’ve been able to overcome to get you where you are today?
[When] you don’t quite believe you are an actor or that your dream has come true, or that you are worthwhile to be in the same space as all these other actors who you’ve admired or grew up watching. There’s that stream of consciousness of self-doubt that can creep in, and I have to be really on top of it and also admit it I feel out of my depth if I’m working with someone I admire. I’m like, “I shouldn’t be here,” but I’d hate to be the limiting factor in my life, so I wish I had the solution for it. I don’t have the solve for self-doubt, but I do like any kind of little gratitude practice, which is like, “Oh my goodness, I get to be here. I get to talk about this film that so many people saw.” Even though we’ll do the premiere and be like, “Oh my God, I don’t know how to stand. I’m not an actor. I’m not beautiful enough to be an actor,” or whatever the storyline is, and none of that is true, but you kind of have to fight it. I have to fight it pretty constantly by saying I am enough and trying to refocus on all the wonderful things.
If you had to describe what makes Elizabeth Lail, Elizabeth Lail, what would you say?
Recently, I’ve been very into this idea that we are in harmony with nature, and so therefore I am nature as a tree is nature, and we’re all connected in that way, and we’re all giving and taking from the earth in that way. I do feel at my core — I’m not going to say I’m a tree because that’s ridiculous (laughs) — but that I am an energetic piece of nature. I don’t have the words for it clearly, but I certainly have tapped into that sensation-like energy.
