Five Nights At Freddy’s Video Game Influences Create A Major Challenge For The Sequel

After Five Nights at Freddy’s was released in October 2023, talks of a sequel were immediate, and anticipation has been high, however, considering Five Nights at Freddy’s story, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 may struggle to remain true to the video games. Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 was recently confirmed to be happening by the first movie’s star, Josh Hutcherson, and is allegedly beginning filming in July 2024. Though no official announcements have been made about the movie’s cast or story, it is likely that Hutcherson will return, and the film will follow the second video game in the franchise.

There are many theories about where Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 could go in terms of plot. At the end of Five Nights at Freddy’s, Mike, Abby, and Vanessa defeat William Afton by locking him inside an animatronic suit. This frees the children haunting Freddy’s, and brings Mike and Abby back to their regular lives. Some obvious next steps would be having a new force of evil take control of Freddy Fazbear’s, or for William Afton to return in spirit form. However, the biggest problem is that none of this happens in the Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 video game.

Five Nights At Freddy’s Was Inspired By The First Three FNAF Video Games

Although Five Nights at Freddy’s is the first movie in what will hopefully be an extensive franchise, its story does not perfectly align with the video games its based on. While Five Nights of Freddy’s certainly has aspects of the first Five Nights at Freddy’s video game, it turns out that it is actually inspired by three different games. In an interview with Screen Rant, Five Nights at Freddy’s star Matthew Lillard revealed that when he asked the film’s screenwriter what to focus on, he replied by saying, “Look, the first three games are where we’re taking the movie from.”

This definitely does not mean that the 2023 film includes every plot point from the first three games. If anything, the movie’s creators were likely picking and choosing aspects of the games they felt were best for the first movie. That means that there is plenty of content left to be explored from those games, and from the games that the movie franchise still hasn’t touched.

Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 Will Struggle To Adapt The Sequel Game Now

Because the first Five Nights at Freddy’s movie was influenced by three different video games, that means that the second film will not be able to be a direct adaptation, and this could become dicey for the movie’s story. If Five Nights at Freddy’s took big aspects from the second video game, then Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 will no longer be able to use those details. In some ways, the plot of Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 has already been diminished by the first movie. By making Five Nights at Freddy’s bigger, the creators unintentionally made the sequel smaller.

It is also important to note that Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is quite different from the first video game. Most notably, Mike Schmidt is no longer the main character, instead replaced by Jeremy Fitzgerald. If this point were used for the second film, it would remove almost all the important aspects from the first movie, including main characters like Mike and Abby, and the plot points that occurred at Freddy Fazbear’s. In this way, Fives Nights at Freddy’s 2 cannot directly adapt the second video game, but then, that leaves a major question mark as to the movie’s plot.

How Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 Can Fix Its Video Game Influence Problem

Although Five Nights at Freddy’s already used parts of the second video game, there’s still hope for the new movie. It may not be a perfect portrayal of the second video game, but there is quite a lot of content that the sequel can pull from, not just from the second video game, but from other franchise installments as well. Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 simply has to follow in its predecessors’ footsteps and take parts from various Five Nights at Freddy’s games. By doing this, it continues the first movie’s plot while also harking back to the source material.