While the Five Nights at Freddy's movie followed the first game pretty faithfully, centering security guard Mike, whose new job winds up being a real nightmare, upcoming sequel Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is set to deviate from the source material a bunch. While the protagonist catches a bit of a break in the second game, as the franchise goes back in time, Josh Hutcherson's lead won't be putting his feet up on the big screen.
"At the start of Freddy's 2, Mike's in a better place. I think that he's trying to provide a nice, stable life for Abby. I think that he's a bit more grounded than he was in the first movie," says Hutcherson to GamesRadar+, immediately dashing our hopes of Mike being able to live a normal life. "Unfortunately, Freddy's has a way of roping us all back into some madness. So the enjoyment, feeling of safety, things getting better, is a very short, short-lived sensation for Mike."
In Five Nights at Freddy's, we saw Mike start his new job as a night watchman at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, where he was bombarded with haunted animatronics that came alive when the sun went down. Later, Mike learned that the robots were actually possessed by the victims of child killer William Afton, who was responsible for the kidnapping of his little brother years earlier, and now had his sights on his little sister Abby.
"In the first movie, his main goal was to understand what happened to his brother and what he could have done differently. And he was obsessed with finding that, adds Hutcherson. Despite Mike and Vanessa defeating Afton, we can see in the Five Nights at Freddy's 2 trailer Mike is still plagued by memories from Freddy's one year later. "He's trying to have a normal life, just not in the cards for Mike. He's not going to get a normal life, I don't know if ever, definitely not in the sequel."
But we have a feeling that Mike might make it out of Freddy Fazbear's again, as when asked if he would return for further FNaF films, Hutcherson replies, "Yes, without a doubt… if we got to have the same team, the same group of actors, that would be my absolute dream."
Outside of the franchise, Hutcherson says, "I would love to come back and start doing more horror stuff. I love the horror genre. I think it's amazing. I think right now, too, horror is having a great moment," adding that Weapons and It: Welcome to Derry are his top horror picks of the year. "I literally just saw Weapons finally, and it scared the shit out of me."
Five Nights at Freddy's 2 hits screens on December 5. For more, check out our list of the best video game movies, and keep up with upcoming horror movies.
