Explaining the Ending and Post-Credits Scene of the Five Nights at Freddy's Movie

The Five Nights at Freddy's movie, as an adaptation, is an unconventional endeavor. It deviates from directly incorporating the existing games, novels, and comics that form this vast franchise. Instead, the series creator and film co-writer, Scott Cawthon, alongside director and co-writer Emma Tammi, artfully blend various elements from across the franchise to construct a fresh and distinct narrative loosely inspired by the first game.

While many aspects of the film will spark recognition among fans, they are cleverly utilized in novel ways. Even ardent followers of the franchise, known as Freddyheads, have the opportunity to be pleasantly surprised by the unfolding events in the movie—provided they avoid reading the remainder of this article until they have watched it.

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for the entire Five Nights at Freddy's movie, including a comprehensive analysis of the conclusion.

The central premise revolves around Mike Schmidt, a man fixated on locating the perpetrator responsible for abducting his sibling many years ago during their childhood. Night after night, he deliberately forces himself to revisit that fateful day in his dreams, hoping to uncover fresh insights hidden within his recollections. Unfortunately, his efforts prove fruitless, leaving him perpetually sleep-deprived and unable to find solace. To make matters worse, he jeopardizes his job as a security officer by assaulting an individual whom he erroneously believed to be kidnapping a child.

As a result, he seeks the guidance of a career counselor portrayed by Matthew Lillard. However, things take a peculiar turn when the counselor reacts strangely while perusing Mike's file. He encourages Mike to consider working as a night security guard at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, an abandoned establishment resembling Chuck E. Cheese which closed down many years ago. Mike accepts the job, immersing himself in the world of dreams that unfold at the pizza place. Ironically, within these dreams, he encounters unfamiliar children who might hold clues about his missing brother.

Simultaneously, there are other storylines to explore. Mike finds himself responsible for his younger sister, Abby, who is just a child. Nevertheless, their aunt insists on gaining custody of Abby, believing that Mike is incapable of providing for her. Additionally, an exceedingly friendly police officer named Vanessa possesses an uncanny depth of knowledge about Freddy's, surpassing what one would expect from an ordinary person.

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We also have the menacing animatronic creatures. While they fiercely protect the pizzeria from intruders who vandalize and rob the place, they initially show no hostility towards Mike - in fact, they develop a fondness for Abby and spend one of the significant nights playing with her.

The plot unfolds slowly until we reach the climax, when Vanessa reveals all the crucial details: the animatronic animals harbor the spirits of children who were tragically murdered and placed inside the suits - these are the same children that Mike sees in his dreams. Furthermore, they now desire to inflict the same fate upon Abby. The driving force behind their actions is none other than Vanessa's father, William Afton, the man responsible for their murders. Vanessa aids him by enticing new security guards to their demise. Additionally, William Afton has kidnapped and killed Mike's brother, although specifics about this event remain undisclosed.

Five Nights at Freddy's Mid-Credits Scene explained

Vanessa has a change of heart this time, possibly due to Abby's involvement, prompting Afton to reveal himself. And yes, it's the character played by Matthew Lillard from the beginning of the movie, now dressed in a grimy yellow rabbit costume. The situation appears dire, but our heroes successfully turn Freddy, Chica, and the other animatronic dead children against Afton. In the ensuing struggle, he suffers the same fate as his previous victims: being murdered by the malfunctioning spring mechanisms in his suit. This thwarts his plans for now and brings the movie to a close, but it likely makes him more formidable in a potential sequel.

Like many franchise films, Five Nights at Freddy's includes a post-credits bonus scene that hints at the story's continuation. It takes us back to the cab driver – did you notice the absence of smartphones in this movie? – that Abby and the robot Chica encountered earlier. However, there is another passenger in the car, most likely left behind by Chica: a miniature animatronic character known as Balloon Boy, introduced in the second game.

How the Five Nights at Freddy's movie changed the lore

Fun fact about the cabbie, though: he's portrayed by YouTuber CoreyxKenshin.

To say that the lore of Five Nights at Freddy's is coherent would be quite generous, and thus it might not be accurate to claim that the movie "altered" it. There are numerous gaps and a multitude of old theories that many fans now consider to be true, despite lacking formal confirmation.

There are two Mikes in the games, both of whom are often speculated to be the same person. One is Mike Schmidt, the protagonist of the first game, and the other is Michael Afton, the main character of Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location and the son of William Afton. However, the Mike in the movie seems to have a different identity, as his father in his dreams is someone else. Nevertheless, things can always change.

On the other hand, Vanessa is portrayed as William's daughter in this context, but this is not the case in the games as far as our knowledge goes. Vanessa is a character featured in several games, most notably as the antagonist in Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach, where a young child must survive a night in a Freddy's-themed mall. Vanessa works as a security guard who becomes corrupted by a digital virus known as Glitchtrap, one of William Afton's ghostly forms. She is also referred to as Vanessa A, implying a possible connection to the Afton family in the games.

Although Abby is a mostly original character, it is important to mention that the games' Michael Afton had at least one sibling, possibly two. The confirmed sibling is a younger sister named Elizabeth, who was killed by one of the animatronic suits and now possesses the Circus Baby suit in Sister Location. The other potential sibling is an unnamed child who is the player character in the minigames of Five Nights at Freddy's 4. Michael Afton is often believed to be the unnamed protagonist of that game, with the child being his younger brother. Similar to Abby, this child had imaginary friends who were actually spirits possessing the animatronics. However, unlike Abby, this child tragically died when Fredbear, Freddy's predecessor, bit his head and crushed it.