At long last, Universal Pictures dropped the first full-length trailer for its upcoming horror adaptation Five Nights at Freddy’s, which will bring to live-action the hugely popular video game and novel series from creator Scott Cawthon. The film boasts a solid small-scale cast including Hunger Games vet Josh Hucherson, Daniel Isn’t Real’s Mary Stuart Masterson and Scream and Scooby-Doo franchise star and voice actor Matthew Lillard heading things up. Lillard’s role in particular has been a source for various theories from fans wondering which character from Freddy Fazbear Pizza’s history he’d be playing, with co-founder William Ashton being the biggest "assumption" that was technically already spoiled by Cawthon himself. But according to the trailer, that won’t be the case. (Snort snort.)
In the promo seen above, we get a wide shot of Lillard’s character behind a desk, which is basically the only visual we’ve seen of him from the flick thus far. Only now his nameplate is visible, and it reads “Steve Raglan.”
As far as I’m aware, no one from the FNAF franchise answers to the name Steve Raglan, and those letters aren’t a direct anagram of “William Afton,” even when the letters are all upside down. Plus, the office that the character is situated in doesn’t seem to have any major clues pointing to a different identity. (Though perhaps more eagle-eyed viewers can pick up on what the certificates on the wall say.) But is anybody really fooled here? I mean, he’s gotta be Afton, right?
The way we hear him describe the pizzeria is as much a hint, so to speak, as anything else, as his voice lifts in a very Lillard-esque way right when mentioning “the owner.”
They shut it down years ago. The owner’s just not ready to let it go yet.
So it would seem that Afton changed his name at some point after distancing himself from the Freddy’s branding, but in an effort to kick off his serial killer streak in earnest, he’s finding desperate volunteers to take gigs as security guards for his animatronic nightmares to toy with. Not exactly the most common character type, admittedly.
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It’s not 100% clear how closely to the game canon this movie will be, but considering fans know the character far better in his non-human form, the movie’s events (or at least the earliest moments from the trailer) would necessarily take place before any reanimated corpses come into play. But that would get too much into spoiler territory for those who aren't already invested in the game lore. (But do take note of what the darkness-cloaked animatronic is humming later on.)
So what do we think, FNAF fans? Is Matthew Lillard playing just a mild-mannered career counselor named Steve Raglan, or is the trailer pulling Chica's cupcake-covered bib over our eyes? As if there was ever any true doubt.
With the horror masterminds at Blumhouse serving as producers, the movie adaptation Five Nights at Freddy's will serve fans some scares on October 27 when it will hit theaters and be available to stream with a Peacock subscription. While waiting for that Halloween madness, check out all the other upcoming horror movies yet to come in 2023.
