Some character details are emerging about the Five Nights at Freddy's movie. Directly based on the video game of the same name by Scott Cawthon, the film has been years in the works, though a production start is now fast approaching. It was recently reported that Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games, Future Man) and Matthew Lillard (Scream, Scooby-Doo) had been cast in leading roles, and per scooper JonnyBlox, it's been revealed that the former will play the protagonist with the latter as the villain.
Reportedly, Hutcherson will play Mike Schmidt, the security guard who serves as the playable character in Five Nights at Freddy's. Meanwhile, Lillard will play William Afton, the primary antagonist of the video game series. Subsequently, it was reported that the cast would include Piper Rubio (How We Roll) as Mike's younger sister Abby and Mary Stuart Masterson (Blindspot) as another unnamed villain.
This information is in line with some character details previously revealed by Geek Vibes Nation. Mike Schmidt is described as someone who's "riddled with guilt over a tragedy in his past, and now struggling to take care of his younger sister on his own." Hoping to pay the bills, Mike takes the night shift as a security guard at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. It was also noted that Mike's "obsession with digging for truth may have potentially disastrous consequences."
Five Nights at Freddy's Spawned a Franchise
Developer Scott Cawthon created the original Five Nights at Freddy's video game, which was released in 2014. Inspired by Chuck E. Cheese, the game is set in a pizzeria inhabited by animatronic animals designed with artificial intelligence to entertain children. Unfortunately, they get creepy at night. As the night shift guard, the player must make use of surveillance cameras and keep track of their movements to prevent the animatronics from entering the security room.
The game has a simple premise, but it clicked very well with gamers, turning Five Nights at Freddy's into a big hit. It would spawn many sequels with the game series still ongoing, with Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach releasing last year. Novels and graphic novels have also been developed. Plans to make a movie go all the way back to 2015, with Ghostbusters: Afterlife co-writer Gil Kenan on board to direct at one point, but it wasn't until more recently when Scott Cawthon signed off on a screenplay he was happy with.
The Five Nights at Freddy's movie doesn't yet have a release date.