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Five Nights at Freddy’s is a curious thing: a horror franchise created for a younger audience that is filled not just with murder, but the murder of young kids — who then go on to possess creepy robots that kill other people. Is that maybe a little… too dark for kids? That’s a question that was asked by a fan during the Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 panel at San Diego Comic-Con, but the movie’s creators believe it’s more nuanced than many might believe.

“There’s a lot of dark lore in FNAF, as you all know, and it’s for kids, so this is a complicated thing, I thought initially, when Jason [Blum, executive producer] first called me and told me about the potential for this movie” director Emma Tammi said during the Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2025. “And I think, as Piper can really attest to, it’s something kids can find really nuanced and embraced. I remember scary things when I was a kid, and that was part of my childhood  and into my adulthood. I saw how the fans were responding to that and wanting more, and I thought, okay, there’s heart to this, it’s not just the scares.”

The secret is, she suggested, “finding the layers of humanity inside the horror genre, or any genre. That creates the balance.”

Rubio, the 11-year-old actor who plays central character Abby — and admitted during the panel that she’s become a FNAF superfan as a result of researching the franchise after getting the role in the first movie, thanks to YouTube explainer videos — said that she thinks the key is to “not follow the William Afton route.” Afton is, in the lore of the games (and the subsequent movies), the man who created the murderous animatronics after going to a deep, dark place.

“William Afton is not someone to emulate,” Tammi agreed. “Don’t be William Afton! That’s the moral of the story,” Rubio announced.

“Horror stories are cautionary tales, of things not to do, and reasons not to do them,” suggested Blum, but Tammi couldn’t resist playing Devil’s Advocate. “We love a villain,” she added. Especially one, like Afton, played by the charismatic Matthew Lillard.

Five Night’s at Freddy’s 2 is set for release December 5, 2025.

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