Posted in: Movies, Universal | Tagged: five nights at freddy's, five nights at freddys 2, Universal Pictures

How the Five Nights at Freddy's 2 Ending Sets Up a Third Film

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 director Emma Tammi explains how the sequel’s ending and post-credits tease set up a possible third film.

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 just dropped in theaters and, even with critics generally leaving the film disappointed, the numbers say the fan base is still very much locked in. In fact, during its opening weekend, the film garnered over $63 million domestically and more than $109 million worldwide so far, instantly turning a profit on the sequel's increased budget while also proving that the lore still has pull. Now, director Emma Tammi is breaking down where this chapter leaves things and how the ending and post-credits set up what could come next.

Speaking about the larger plan for William Afton, she told Variety that the second film was always meant to steer the story toward a potential third movie. "We end Movie One with [William Afton] being dragged off, and the idea was always that he would be teed up at the end of [the second film] for a third film, should we be fortunate enough to make one. That really links to where Movie Three and Game Three enter the scene. We get these great glimpses of William Afton throughout this film that are really more through the lens of Vanessa and her memories and PTSD from her relationship with him. To then get a glimpse towards the end of what he is now becoming and has become, when the assumption is, at least from our characters within the film, that he's dead… it's just such a great way to bring it back to Afton."

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 Plot Summary and Official Cast

Story-wise, Five Nights at Freddy's 2 jumps ahead about a year from the original. Abby Schmidt reconnects with the animatronics who once felt like her only friends, while the events at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza have been turned into a campy legend that fuels the town's first FazFest celebration. That festival draws new crowds and new victims to a revamped Freddy's, where Toy Freddy, Toy Chica, Toy Bonnie, and the Marionette bring fresh chaos as secrets about the pizzeria's past finally start to crack open.

This time around, Josh Hutcherson returns as Mike Schmidt, with Elizabeth Lail back as Vanessa and Piper Rubio as Abby. Matthew Lillard once again plays William Afton, while newcomers Freddy Carter, Skeet Ulrich, Wayne Knight, Mckenna Grace, Teo Briones, and others round out the sequel's mix of skeptics and likely victims.

Given that the ending leans hard into Afton's evolution and lines up with where the third game goes, it feels like only a matter of time before Universal and Blumhouse make a third film official. But while we're waiting, at least the animatronics are back, and the fan base is already showing up.

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is in theaters now.

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