Trapped in the workshops of development hell, the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie adaptations haven’t had the best production history; however, the series was never beyond rescue, and there’s still a way to save it. Based on Scott Cawthon’s series of the same name, the stories of his haunted animatronic pizzeria franchise expanded beyond the games that introduced them and became part of modern horror mythology. Represented in just about every medium except television and movies, they also represent the biggest challenge for Five Nights at Freddy’s.
Being adapted into books, merchandise, and even a theme park ride, in 2015, a Five Nights at Freddy’s movie was announced by Warner Bros. Since then, Freddy Fazbear’s Hollywood treatment of the unmade horror movie went through several scripts and filmmakers, including famed movie director Chris Columbus. However, after nearly a decade of development, Freddy had yet to see a big-screen debut.
One of the biggest challenges of adapting Five Nights at Freddy’s is in that its story and lore were always intentionally cryptic. Many went to extraordinary lengths to make sense of the clues scattered throughout various timelines, stories, and media, hoping to tell a singular story. Cawthon lamented these challenges (via Reddit) as he reflected on who his movies should focus on, what tone they should take, and how much should be true to the source material. However, the best way to probably rescue Five Nights at Freddy’s and figure out what it wants to be is to adapt it for HBO Max as an anthology. By telling smaller stories based around the eclectic mythos of Five Nights at Freddy’s, HBO can utilize various story premises and reinforce audience interest in the series – potentially even repurposing the abandoned scripts for episode material.
In the tradition of similar horror series collections such as R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps and Fear Street, Five Nights at Freddy’s had horror anthologies published for a younger audience. While nebulous in their relation to the main games’ story arc, Fazbear Frights and Tales from the Pizzaplex feature familiar characters, locations, and lore from across the mythology. As varied as they were entertaining, there was a precedent for Five Nights at Freddy’s to tell different stories outside the main series. HBO Max could easily mix these plots with the rejected movie scripts for a new children’s anthology series or even a Fear Street-inspired trilogy and save them from the stagnancy of development hell. By focusing on smaller-scale tales, HBO doesn’t have to suffer from the indecisiveness of a single plot, tone, or cast of characters for a full-feature film.
After the most recent game, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach, received some of the lowest ratings in the series, releasing a Goosebumps or Are You Afraid of the Dark?-inspired anthology is a good way to remind audiences how the games garnered their success. Telling more of the nostalgia-fueled horror stories that found a way to make those childhood fears of Chuck E. Cheese scary again can refresh the franchise, and expand it in previously unused territory. Returning to classic locations, teasing more cryptic lore, and continuing to flesh out areas of the universe could once again have fans of all ages excited to solve the dark secrets hidden within cursed pizzerias.
One of the most famous quotes of the FNAF franchise is “I’ll always come back,” a promise made by one of the franchise’s main villains, and true of the series itself. As long as there’s a story to tell and new ideas to explore, Five Nights at Freddy’s doesn’t have to end, and a show could easily be used to gain footholds for an eventual fully-fledged animatronic horror movie. Getting Fazbear and his friends to Hollywood has been tumultuous, but it’s not over, and an anthology could bring the horror of the series to the screen earlier than the long delayed film.
