Who can audiences expect to see in the Five Nights at Freddy’s sequel?
It’s possible that, like me, the wheels in your brain started moving the moment Jason Blum posted a new photo at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, teasing the Five Nights at Freddy’s sequel that would be officially announced just a day later. While for me personally this has manifested in my brain primarily in the form of how the studio can up the scare factor in the sequel, a newer announcement has shifted the focus in another direction onto one massive question.
Who is going to be in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2?
Option # 1: Henry Emily
As ComicBook.com reported earlier, DanielRPK has revealed that the Five Nights at Freddy’s sequel is currently casting for a major male role, making a guess that the role is Henry Emily. While not introduced in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 the game, it does seem a completely reasonable guess. Henry is the co-owner of Freddy Fazbear’s alongside William Afton and fellow engineer, and though Henry’s primary role in the company was to handle things from a business standpoint, he did create the Springlock animatronics.
Henry is also the father of Charlotte Emily, Afton’s first victim, whose ghost possesses The Puppet. The Puppet is first introduced in FNAF2 the game so it’s reasonable to say they’re an addition to the cast of animatronics in the movie sequel, particularly since The Puppet was already teased at the end of the first film, saying simply: “Come find me.” As a side note, I’m really looking forward to a potential jumpscare involving The Puppet’s music box from FNAF2.
Henry’s introduced in Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator, helping players run a successful and safe pizzeria. The great thing about Henry is that he’s really only appeared vocally in the games, so opting to bring the character into the movie in a larger role beyond cassette recordings left for the player to find, and while he’s got a really fantastic place in FNAF lore, he’s really a blank slate for Blumhouse to work with in terms of characterization, beyond needing to be believably business and engineering capable. It would, of course, make sense for whomever is cast in the role to be an age that matches Matthew Lillard’s William Afton.
Two casting choices immediately came to mind for me here – Skeet Ulrich or Ethan Hawke. Ulrich, of course, having worked with the movie franchise’s Afton in the past, and the two have a natural chemistry that would undoubtedly provide a believable performance that the two were at least at some point best friends. Hawke comes to mind for me as a consistent powerhouse (though maybe a bit underrated) in the horror genre, one that has already collaborated with Blumhouse to yield The Black Phone, in which his performance is consistently praised in its 88% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Additional Options:
But while Henry does seem extremely likely given the direction the first movie took with the FNAF lore, that doesn’t mean he’s the only choice. Jeremy Fitzgerald, the first security guard and main protagonist of FNAF2 and speculated victim of the Bite of ’87 (if you know, you know…that’s for another article), would also make complete sense to introduce in the move sequel. Jeremy is the night guard for nights 1 – 7 of FNAF2. Night 7 sees Fritz Smith take over as the security guard as Jeremy moves to the day shift, and it’s on this custom night that the animatronics go haywire. Fritz makes it through the night, but is immediately fired for “tampering with the animatronics.”
As for who could step into the roles of Jeremy and Fritz, the age range established by Josh Hutcherson in the first movie feels like a great continuation for these two. A few options that I think would fit the tone and style of FNAF and land within this age range would be Joe Keery, Jack Quaid, Rory Culkin, Daniel Kaluuya…
Honestly, there are a lot of impressive names that would fit within the expected confines of these characters, and Blumhouse consistently casts their roles with enough care that I’m confident whoever they choose will be a great addition to the FNAF franchise.
What We Already Know
It’s already confirmed through the aforementioned photo that the Creature Shop is working on models for Mangle and Toy Bonnie, and The Puppet being fully featured is seeming more and more likely. As for additional animatronics, there are “Toy” versions of Freddy and Chica as well, with Balloon Boy and JJ not to be forgotten from Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 the game, either.
There are 11 animatronics total present in FNAF2, so regardless of who the humans in the cast are they’ll certainly be up against living nightmares at night. While FNAF2 is pretty consistently liked amongst fans, some reviews criticized it for being too much more difficult than its predecessor and causing too frequent of deaths for players to be enjoyable. As for me, FNAF2 remains at the top of my ranking of the franchise, and I desperately hope this sense of difficulty and hardship is passed on to the characters in the movie sequel. I’m also personally hopeful the unique challenge the game presents of not having doors is carried over, but I understand why if it’s not.
Based on Five Nights at Freddy’s‘ ending there are multiple characters still alive to return, including Hutcherson’s Mike, Piper Rubio’s Abby, Elizabeth Lail’s Vanessa, and Mary Stuart Masterson’s Aunt Jane, amongst others (like Doug).
Which FNAF character are you hoping to see in the sequel, and who would you cast in the role? Chat with me about it on X @amazingspidrhan!
