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As Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 rampages through the box office, smashing records along the way, it seems likely that we’ll be getting a third movie out of the franchise. Director Emma Tammi hasn’t made a secret of her plans for the films, which include setting up Matthew Lillard’s William Afton for a return in that mid-credit scene in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.

We get a few glimpses at Matthew Lillard as William Afton in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 via flashbacks and dream sequences, but the big payoff for all this setup is coming in the eventual third movie of the series, according to Emma Tammi. “We end Movie One with him being dragged off, and the idea was always that he would be teed up at the end of Movie Two for a third film, should we be fortunate enough to make one,” she said in a recent interview. “That really links to where Movie Three and Game Three enter the scene. We get these great glimpses of William Afton throughout the film that are really more through the lens of Vanessa and her memories and PTSD from her relationship with him. To then get a glimpse towards the end of what he is now becoming and has become, when the assumption is, at least from our characters within the film, that he’s dead… It’s just such a great way to bring back Afton.”

Matthew Lillard has already confirmed that Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 was planned back when they pitched him the part of William Afton. The studio might not have greenlit it until it became such a big box office success, but William Afton’s return – and the reveal of Springtrap from Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 – was always how the director imagined setting up the third movie.

The Five Nights at Freddy's phenomenon is lasting longer than five nights. Get up to speed, with how to play all the FNAF games in order, why Five Nights at Freddy's is the ideal starter kit for a kid wanting to get into horror, details on the characters and lore, getting to know the FNAF movie animatronics, how the movie fits in the canon of the games, and how Chuck E. Cheese is responding.

Can't get enough? We have recommendations for five movies to watch after Five Nights at Freddy's.