The Five Nights At Freddy's Trailer Seemingly Confirms A Popular Fan Theory
When Universal and Blumhouse announced that Matthew Lillard had joined the cast of "Five Nights at Freddy's" as a "human antagonist," it was assumed that he was playing the twisted franchise villain, William Afton. However, the trailers and official press releases all list him as "Steve Raglan" a career counselor who helps Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson) find his job as a security guard at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. But "FNaF" fans aren't stupid, and the fandom is one of the most dedicated out there. You can't fool us, we know that man is William Afton.
It's assumed that "Steve Raglan" is just another pseudonym for Afton, and director Emma Tammi all but confirmed it as much to be true in the latest issue of Empire Magazine. "The human antagonist was the number one role that we really had the fan base in mind for," Tammi said. "What Matthew brings to all his characters is a wink and a twinkle in his eyes that makes these horrible villainous acts and characters weirdly likable, which was fundamental for this adaptation."
How William Afton picked up this new "career counselor" identity and how long he's been using it is something we'll have to wait to learn when the film finally debuts, but given Lillard's pedigree in horror, it's an incredibly inspired casting decision. "A lot of the material is really dark, but if there isn't a lightness of spirit to some of that, it would fall flat, and Matthew perfectly embodies that," said Tammi. The juxtaposition of playful, childlike excitement and seriously messed-up horror is at the heart of "Five Nights at Freddy's." It's as if Lillard's career was building toward him becoming this big baddie, confirmed in the latest trailer with the appearance of the super-scary Springtrap.
Stay away from Springtrap
For the uninitiated, despite "Five Nights at Freddy's" immense popularity with young-leaning audiences, the lore of the games is pretty damn gruesome. William Afton is the co-founder of Fazbear Entertainment and Afton Robotics, LLC. making him the father of all things Freddy Fazbear. He's also a serial killer (directly and indirectly) responsible for just about every death, tragedy, and supernatural occurrence to ever happen throughout the "FNaF" series. His actual human form has yet to be shown, so if Steve Raglan is in fact William Afton, Matthew Lillard will be the first time fans of the franchise will have seen his living face. Afton always smiles when he kills his victims, and it's estimated he's responsible for at least a dozen child murders.
His mummified body is also currently residing inside a rotting animatronic, in case you were curious.
At the end of the newest trailer, we get a glimpse of a disheveled, terrifying version of Bonnie the bunny. This is Springtrap. 30 years after the events of the first game, Afton returned to continue his reign of terror by possessing a heavily damaged Spring Bonnie, his remains still trapped inside the spring-lock suit. Springtrap is the first "true" form of Afton in the series, and one of the scariest in the entire game. If players look closely at the hole in Springtrap's chest, the broken, mangled body of William Afton can be seen. And just like his killer smile, Springtrap has an overstretched grin due to the deterioration of fabric around the animatronic's mouth. It's the stuff nightmares are made of, and seeing the character brought to live-action will certainly keep plenty of viewers up at night. If this wasn't enough to convince the world that Matthew Lillard is William Afton disguised as Steve Raglan, Springtrap's blade swipe in the trailer should do the trick.
It's a scream, baby!
Matthew Lillard has a ridiculously impressive history in the horror (and horror-adjacent) genre, starring in films like "Dead Man's Curve," "Thirteen Ghosts," "Ghoulies Go to College," "Serial Mom," and "Scooby Doo." But to multiple generations, Lillard will forever be associated with the first "Scream" film as one of the original Ghostface killers, Stu Macher. Lillard's portrayal of Stu is one of the most memorable performances in slasher history, delivering now-iconic lines ("My mom and dad are going to be so mad at me!" / "I'm feeling a little woozy here!") and proving that some of the most evil characters are also the most entertaining.
Stu and partner Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) alternate killing as Ghostface, but stunt performer Dane Farwell (who was actually under the mask) added a quirk to the character that has now become a trademark. After a brutal killing, Ghostface pulls up the knife and wipes off the blood in his hands using his robe. The reason behind this was an issue of continuity once Farwell shot the next scene that was to follow and realized the knife was clean when it should have had blood on it already, but the "Ghostface Knife Swipe" is now one of the slasher's most identifiable traits. It's like how gymnasts can have skills named after them if they're the first to land it but for horror movie mannerisms. Springtrap performing a Ghostface Knife Swipe feels like a loving nod to Billy and Stu, and one of the strongest bits of evidence that Steve Raglan is William Afton.
"Five Nights at Freddy's" debuts in theaters and will be available to stream on Peacock beginning October 27, 2023.