Five Nights at Freddy’s 2: Release date, cast, storyline, and more

Five Nights at Freddy's is a horror game franchise created by Scott Cawthon in 2014. The huge success of the games rocket launched them to another level. FNAF came to life in a movie and now a sequel: Five Nights at Freddy's 2.

According to Deadline, the first movie scored a domestic opening of $78 million dollars (a number that later reached $270 million), the best opening weekend for a horror movie in 2023. And now, another movie is coming to our screens.

The games have so many references, Easter eggs, books, lore, and things that were never explained, that fans keep theorizing about many aspects until today. And they simply love the mysterious vibe around FNAF.

In the first movie, we follow Mike (played by Josh Hutcherson) a security guard who started to work at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria in 1993. During his shift, strange things started to happen with the animatronics, puppets invented by Henry Emily and William Afton. These animatronics were introduced in Freddy's stores to entertain kids.

One day, Vanessa (played by Elizabeth Lail), the police officer, warns Mike that the animatronics stay on during the night so they won't break. What he didn't know was that these animatronics were haunted by the souls of murdered kids.

In the movie, we follow the story of the first Five Nights at Freddy's. On one of those nights, Abby (interpreted by Piper Rubio), Mike's sister, stays with him so she won't be home alone. She becomes friends with them, dancing and having fun in the store.

They even protected her from the movie's villain, William Afton (interpreted by Matthew Lillard), their creator. William appears as the Spring Bonnie, his chosen yellow machine to commit the murders.

At the end of the movie, Mike is able to save his sister and turn the animatronics against William Afton. Once they kill him, the brothers come back home. Mike obtains his sister's guard, which his aunt was trying to have to benefit from the state money, and assumes the responsibility of being her full-time caretaker.

As we see, the first movie ends with a happy and funny ending. At least, we thought. At the post-credits of FNAF, we see that Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria stays open after all, which can mean that William is alive. We see him in his "new costume" which is actually a defective version of Spring Bonnie, known as Springtrap.

In January, Josh Hutcherson, Mike's actor, told Variety that he was "dying" to come back on set to be part of the next FNAF movie with the amazing cast and staff. In August, the official FNAF page published part of a script on X.

William Afton actor, Matthew Lillard, assured fans that the team had learned "a lot in the first film", talking about some mistakes that fans pointed out, he said to Collider in an interview. Matthew also confirmed that production would start at the beginning of November.

In an interview for Esquire, Josh confirmed the Five Nights at Freddy's sequel would be focusing on more horror-related aspects of the franchise. Some fans were disappointed by the lack of terrifying scenes or story-driven lore moments.

Even with these new horror scenes, the movie will remain within the PG rating, which means anyone above 13 years old can watch the movie. This gives the chance to fans of all ages to enjoy the movie and the unique characteristics of this storyline.

Emma Tammi, the movie director, mentioned that they would need to wrap up loose ends in the next movie such as the possible death of Mike's aunt. She also confirmed that the cast would remain on board to make Five Nights at Freddy's 2.

We'll see again Josh Hutcherson as Mike, Piper Rubio as Abby, Matthew Lillard as William, and Mary Stuart Masterson as Aunt Jane. There's still no information about what actors will be interpreting newly introduced animatronics in the sequel.

What thing we know for sure: new animatronics will be introduced. In the second movie, we'll see for the first time the Withered Animatronics. These are damaged versions of the original five animatronics, first appearing in Five Nights at Freddy's second game. They are defectuous and lack some limbs and fur.

We will also see the Toy Animatronics. The toy animatronics are improved versions of the original animatronics, designed by Fazbear Entertainment to replace the withered animatronics for the re-opening of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza in November 1987. These animatronics were designed to identify possible threats to children. It will be interesting to see how are they going to introduce these animatronics.

Puppet, one of the most loved animatronics, is yet to appear. In the post-credits scenes, it seems that we can hear a part of the Puppet music box, but that it's just fan speculation. The only animatronics we can confirm are Toy Chica (she appears in the script) and Toy Bonnie thanks to an X post from the creator due to Five Nights at Freddy's 10th anniversary.

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 will be happening before the first movie, just like the second game happens before the first launched game. It seems that directors will keep this chronological order from the games, especially with the confirmation of the same cast.

Universal and Blumhouse confirmed Five Nights at Freddy's 2 will be coming to our screens on December 5, 2025. We can't wait to see what this sequel is bringing.

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