Full spoilers follow for the Five Nights at Freddy's movies.
After many, many years of waiting, Five Nights at Freddy’s (review) has finally made its inevitable screen debut—and naturally, at the center of the film’s story lies the franchise’s sinister villain: William Afton. His involvement, which was never explicitly referenced in any promotional material or coverage of the movie as it was in production, is a major third-act reveal. And let’s be real here, any fan worth their salt knows there’s no FNAF without Afton. His inclusion in the film is paramount to the core of the story, and his epic final-act reveal definitely will send a little excited chill down any die-hard’s spine. I know I was happy to see him, in all his evil glory.
Having Afton as the franchise’s pervasive antagonistic driving force will no doubt propel the franchise through a slew of sequels, and for fans of the story, the idea of exploring what becomes of Afton and his legacy, which is quite the wild ride, could be really compelling if the powers that be do his story justice. (Fingers crossed.)
That said, for those who have never played the game, Afton’s history—and thus the sordid history of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza itself—might be a little fuzzy.
Allow me to clue you in. Here’s what you need to know about this fun extension of the video game lore into what is now a movie universe as well… but beware, even more spoilers for the film and the games lie ahead.
How Does the FNAF Movie Set Up William Afton’s Reveal?
Five Nights at Freddy’s follows Josh Hutcherson as Mike, a young man struggling to keep himself and his little sister, Abby, afloat. He meets with a career counselor named Steve Raglan to try to secure some work that will help him look respectable on paper to a judge while also providing for himself and his sister.
Raglan is played by none other than horror icon Matthew Lillard, who seems a little shady when he presents Mike with his limited job options, namely a night security gig at a rundown pizza parlor that was shut down in the ’80s. (Yep, that would be Freddy Fazbear’s, the once-beloved children’s spot you’ve been hearing so much about lately.) Naturally, once Mike is on the job, the Freddy Fazbear's animatronic characters that are the hallmark of the place have their eyes on him in sinister fashion at first, but things change when Mike is forced to bring Abby with him to work one night. More on that later.
Toward the end of the film, once Mike and Abby have been fully entrenched in the world of Freddy’s—and what that means for the restaurant's animatronic inhabitants, known as Freddy, Chica (and her sidekick Mr. Cupcake), Bonnie, Foxy, and a second Freddy called Golden Freddy, a game favorite who makes subtle appearances in the film—Raglan and Afton converge when a sixth animatronic called “the Yellow Rabbit” is introduced in the final act… it turns out Afton, who was posing as a career counselor to lure unsuspecting folks into the dangerous job, is actually inside the suit.
Does the film nail this reveal? Well, folks who are familiar with the expansive FNAF lore might not exactly be surprised, but they certainly will feel some sort of satisfaction with the William Afton revelation. It’s a fun, albeit a bit typical, surprise that gives Lillard a little bit of a deserved spotlight of menace. And the reveal is definitely playing right into fans’ hands. Take or leave the movie itself, but you have to give them props for everything involving Afton, really.
Who Is Matthew Lillard’s William Afton Though?
I’m glad you asked, because he is the center of the FNAF franchise, and the one who started it all. In the games, Afton is the owner, proprietor, and creator of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza—and a serial killer responsible for the murder of at least 12 children over a 10-year period. He’s the main antagonist for the franchise for the original set of games, and the one who killed the four children whose spirits have possessed the Freddy’s animatronics since the pizzeria was shut down.
They drag Afton to the back room as the building starts to shake and crumble, and they leave him in the room to meet his fate—or not.
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Afton and his best friend Henry Emily opened the first Freddy Fazbear’s together in the early ’80s, using the animatronics Emily designed and built himself as the centerpieces for the restaurant’s overall concept. You know, a kind of Chuck E. Cheese type thing.
But Afton had a major affinity for Emily’s creations, particularly one called Spring Bonnie. Bonnie is a blue rabbit who is one of the regular Freddy’s animatronics, but the Spring Bonnie version of her is yellow. Remember “the Yellow Rabbit?” Exactly.
Afton was known for wearing the suit around the pizzeria, having manipulated the inner workings of it—a slew of metal parts that control the animatronics elements—in order to wear it and not be impaled by the mechanical parts. But in 1985, Afton kidnapped and murdered five children by luring them to the back room of Freddy’s wearing Spring Bonnie’s costume.
The children’s bodies were hidden in the animatronics themselves, and thus, Afton ended up being released from police custody due to a lack of evidence. The children’s bodies were never found, but their spirits have haunted the animatronics costumes with malicious and murderous intent ever since. That said, they are kids at heart—which is why in the film they took a liking to Mike’s sister Abby and, before turning on the pair, enjoyed spending time with the duo inside the pizzeria.
Years later, Afton came back to the dilapidated Freddy’s building to destroy the animatronics—which only served to free the spirits of the kids inside the building. They came for their killer, but they weren’t able to physically harm him. Instead, they cornered him in a back room, where he found Spring Bonnie’s suit again. So much time had passed, Afton didn’t realize that there was damage to the springlock technology inside the suit, which ended up crushing him to death when all of the internal parts snapped into place.
The children’s defeat of Afton, at least to some degree, is a bit different in the film. In the movie, there’s a wall of children’s drawings of the characters, including one central picture of five children and Spring Bonnie. Knowing they need to get the animatronics to turn on Afton after he reveals himself, Abby draws the animatronics a picture of what he actually did to them, as they can’t remember. They then turn on Afton and cause his suit to crush him, but apparently only enough to torture him. They drag him to the back room as the building starts to shake and crumble, and they leave him in the room to meet his fate—or not.
So What Does This Mean for the Future of Five Nights at Freddy’s Films?
One big clue about how Afton’s reveal will affect any potential FNAF sequels is in his signature line, which is also his last in the film: “I always come back.”
We don’t see Afton take his official last breath on screen—he’s hurt, but his fate is unknown as the film ends—so it stands to reason he’ll resurface again should the franchise continue. Considering he’s the central antagonist for the original set of games, it would make sense to keep him at the forefront—especially with Lillard in the role, who definitely draws in older viewers who loved him in Scream and other films.
It’s also entirely possible that the next FNAF film or films follow Afton in his demise—after which he becomes a whole new villain called The Springtrap. In the games, the children’s spirits are able to seemingly move on once Afton is left to die, but he is left to rot inside the building for the next 30 or so years. One day, the villain wakes up to find that his soul, too, has become a permanent resident inside an animatronic suit, unable to rest in peace due to Afton’s incessant will to live and continue his wretched acts.
In 2023, Afton was found by college students who put him inside Fazbear’s Fright, a horror experience focused on the sick history of Freddy’s—which is where Afton accepts his fate and fully becomes The Springtrap, a decaying version of Spring Bonnie that contains only Afton’s hacked up face and intestines.
It would make a ton of sense for the film franchise’s story to follow this trajectory, especially with a great casting choice like Lillard at their disposal. It will satisfy fans, which is always a win, but Afton’s journey is equally as intriguing to those who aren’t familiar with the game and its lore. Plus, Abby does ask to see her friends again in the film’s final moments, which practically sets us up to see the villain again, potentially in an undead form.
One thing’s for sure: With FNAF doing solid box office so far, a sequel—and the return of William Afton—is practically as certain as a good time at Freddy’s back in the day.
