![]() |
![]() |
“ | This is perfect. First I killed your brother. Now I kill you. Symmetry, my friend! | ” |
— William Afton mocking Mike.
|
William Afton, referred to as Steve Raglan in the beginning of the film and The Yellow Rabbit near the end, is the main antagonist of the Five Nights at Freddy's film. He is a serial killer and the owner of Fazbear Entertainment, and is based on the character of the same name from the games.
Appearance[]
William Afton[]
William is a tall, middle-aged man with light skin, taupe colored hair, blue eyes and a circular beard & connecting mustache. He's seen wearing a yellow, long-sleeved dress shirt with a brown and blue tattersall pattern, and the sleeves pushed up above his elbow, as well as gray pants, a dark blue neck-tie, and vintage golden aviators.
The Yellow Rabbit[]
When inside the Yellow Rabbit suit, William takes on the appearance of Spring Bonnie. Much like the game version of this character, the suit is that of a large golden-yellow rabbit wearing a purple bowtie and two large, circular black buttons. Unlike the game version, however, this suit is withered on the righthand side; being covered in burn marks, as well as missing the top half of its right ear. The irises and pupils of the suit glow a bright white when the mask is on, and the hands of the suit appear to be made of a rubber-like texture, unlike the fabric texture on the rest of the suit.
When not wearing the mask, Afton's face, as well as the collar of his shirt, is visible, though he is not seen wearing his aviators like before. After being attacked by Mr. Cupcake, his suit gains a large hole in the lower lefthand side of the stomach, showing the springlock mechanisms of the suit impaling William.
Personality[]
William is shown to be an extremely clever and calculated individual, as well as being an excellent manipulator. This is showcased via his past actions, as the murdered children were never found despite their bodies remaining in the location, as well as how he was able to trick the animatronics into believing he was their friend so he could continue his murders without suspicion. This is further showcased by his job choice of being a career counselor, as it gave him the perfect position to lure more people into working at Freddy's, as seen with both Bob and Mike. William is also shown to hide his true nature, as he attempts to come off as a cheery and rather unserious individual, as seen with his interactions with Mike earlier in the film.
Despite all this, William is shown to have a major weakness, being his own ego and arrogance. This is showcased early on when he describes the owner of Freddy's (aka, himself) as "kind of a sentimental guy," even laughing as he states that the owner can't bring himself to get rid of the place. His ego is also shown to be quite fragile, as shown when he gets angry at Vanessa when she stands up to him, and especially when the animatronics disobey him and he begins to demean and belittle them.
History[]
Before Five Nights at Freddy's[]
Long before the events of the film, William Afton was the owner of Fazbear Entertainment and ran the Freddy Fazbear's restaurant. Though behind closed doors, he was a serial killer who primarily targeted and even abducted children. At some point in the past, one such child was Garrett Schmidt, who William took from his family while they were on vacation in Nebraska, with the only person noticing being Mike.
During his time running Freddy's, he would one day use the Yellow Rabbit suit to lure five children into the back rooms of Freddy's, only to kill them and stuff their bodies into the animatronics, which would ultimately shut down the restaurant. During the incident, his daughter, Vanessa, would witness everything and become traumatized and fearful of her father as a result.
After the location shut down, the kids that Afton had stuffed into the animatronics would possess them. Afton would then use drawings depicting a false version of the events with the missing children to trick them into believing that he's their friend. For the following years, he would become a career counselor under the name Steve Raglan, and use his position to lure people to Freddy's for the animatronics to kill.
Five Nights at Freddy's[]
Steve meets with Mike in his office after Mike was fired from his job as a mall security guard. As he's looking through Mike's file, Steve belittles him for how often he's been let go at previous jobs, as well as the short windows of time he worked at said jobs. As Steve continues to explain that he doesn't understand Mike, he pauses when reading his full name. He stares at Mike for a moment before his mood suddenly shifts, and he asks Mike if he'd like a cup of coffee, before standing up and getting one for himself. He proceeds to explain to Mike that his options for jobs are going to be limited given his track record, and it's not as easy as taking anything Steve has available. Just as Mike attempts to leave his office, Steve quickly states that he has a job for Mike and ushers him to sit back down.
He begins to explain the job, describing it as a security gig with high turnover, poor pay, and worse hours. He notes that the plus-sides to the job are that Mike gets to be his own boss, technically, and that he only has to worry about keeping people out and keeping the place tidy; claiming both tasks as one thing with Mike correcting him that they're two things. However, when noting that the hours are bad, Mike notes that he can't do nights, much to Steve's dismay. As Mike leaves, he quickly hands him a business card just incase Mike has "a change of heart."
Later the next day, Mike calls Steve and accepts the job. Steve then explains the backstory of Freddy's; how it was really popular with children in the 80's and that the only reason it has yet to be torn down is that the owner is a sentimental guy. He explains that the position became open when they began to have break-ins throughout the years, and notes that the security system, while dated, is still fully functional. He warns Mike that the electricity is "a bit iffy," but that there's a breaker in the main office. He finishes off by say that the job is pretty easy and for Mike to just keep his eyes on the monitors and keep people out.
After Mike is saved by Vanessa late into the film, she reveals to him what William had done in the past, as well as the fact that he was the one to kidnap Garrett. In doing so, she also reveals that she is William's daughter. During this, she shows a picture of Afton in an unwithered version of the Yellow Rabbit suit, standing next to a young Vanessa holding the same toy plane as the one Garrett held when William had kidnapped him.
After rescuing Abby from Chica, Mike ends up coming face to face with The Yellow Rabbit. Mike attempts to tase him, but The Yellow Rabbit simply grabs the wires and chucks them aside before running straight at Mike and tackling him to the floor. As he circles Mike, he taunts him, confirming he killed Garrett, and now he's going to kill Mike. When Mike tells him to "go to hell," he simply laughs and kicks Mike square in the face, knocking him unconscious. He then calls for the animatronics to wake up, causing the animatronics Mike had previously deactivated to reactivate. He then continues to taunt Mike, stating that the souls told him about Abby, and that she'd love it at Freddy's, before then stating that Mike is finished as he pulls out a knife and cleans the blade with his hand. Before he can stab him however, Vanessa shouts for him to drop the knife as she points a gun at him. The Yellow Rabbit then begins to mock Vanessa, stating she's too old for temper tantrums, and he removes his mask, revealing that Steve Raglan was William Afton.
William points his knife at Vanessa, stating that while she may have forgotten who she was loyal too, the animatronics haven't, as he motions to Freddy and Bonnie who are watching their confrontation from the main stage. He throws his mask to the side and demands that Vanessa put the gun away and help him, even going so far as to blame her for the situation at hand, referring to it as the mess that she created. He begins to slowly approach her, and just as he says that they both know she wouldn't use a gun on him, she shoots him, causing William to angrily run towards her, swatting the gun out of her hand. He points the knife at her again, stating that she had one job; to keep Mike in the dark about everything, and kill him if he ever got too close. When Vanessa corrects him, stating that those are two jobs, he grabs her by the throat and slams her against a claw machine. He begins to choke Vanessa, only stopping when he notices Abby running to the drawing wall with a piece of paper in hand. William attempts to approach her, only for Vanessa to grab his arm and tell him that he won't hurt her. He then suddenly stabs Vanessa, much to the surprise of both of them, and lets her fall to the ground. After Vanessa falls unconscious, Afton doesn't waste anymore time and approaches Abby again.
As he approaches, he begins to speak to her only for Abby to stick up her drawing and the lights of the whole location to go out. Afton stands still, and asks Abby what she's done. Mike then turns on the breaker in the office, causing a singular spotlight to go on Abby's drawing, revealing to the animatronics that Afton was not their friend, but rather, their murderer. Just before he can get any closer to Abby, Foxy steps between the two, and glares at Afton. He begins to angrily shouts at Foxy to move before multiple spotlights are shined on him, and the four animatronics circle him. Afton then begins to verbally abuse the animatronics, calling them things such as "nasty," "worthless," and that they are "wretched, rotten little beasts." Suddenly, Mr. Cupcake launches himself at Afton, biting into his suit. As Afton rips the prop off himself, the springlocks suddenly go off and stab him in the stomach. As the suit repeatedly stabs him, he attempts to conceal his pain, slowly falling to his knees before he then grabs the mask he had thrown to the side before. As he holds the mask above his head, Afton states "I always come back" before putting on the mask and falling completely onto the floor.
As Mike, Abby and Vanessa escape, the building begins to collapse in on itself, and the animatronics begin to slowly drag Afton's bleeding body away. Later, we see the blonde haired boy stare at Afton, who is still writhing in pain, through the door to the backroom. Afton attempts to reach out to the soul, but the boy simply shuts the door on him, ending the movie.
Speculation[]
It is heavily speculated that William Afton will return in the following films as Springtrap, much like he has in the Novels and Games. This is furthered by Matthew Lillard stating in an interview on the WeeklyMTG podcast that he had signed a three movie deal with Blumhouse and Universal.[1]
Trivia[]
- The scene of The Yellow Rabbit wiping his knife with his hand is a reference to Stu Macher; the main antagonist and one of two killers from the original 1996 Scream. This was likely done as Stu is another horror movie serial killer portrayed by Matthew Lillard.
- Another similar reference is that the gun that Vanessa points at her father is a Beretta 92 FS, the same gun that Stu used at one point in Scream.
- Despite being separate characters in the games, William Afton's role early in the movie is not dissimilar to that of Phone Guy's in the original Five Nights at Freddy's game.
- Phone Guy is even referenced by Afton ending his phone call to Mike with "Catch you on the flip side," the same thing Phone Guy says on his Night 3 phone call.
- William's springlock suit is never referred to as Spring Bonnie in the movie, but rather "The Yellow Rabbit".
- During the opening 8-bit sequence, Matthew Lillard's and Elizabeth Lail's names are both colored purple, while all the other actor's names are colored red. This was obvious foreshadowing that William and Vanessa are related.
- Matthew Lillard reported that he could not see through the Yellow Rabbit's head while wearing it.
- One of the makeup artists, Ashley Levy, posted on Instagram about the inspiration for William Afton and Steve Raglan.[2]
- For "Steve Raglan," they wanted to evoke the approachability and softness of the character "Principal Brown" from the film Booksmart, the authority of the psychiatrist from the TV series Euphoria, and also forewarn the potential sociopathic tendencies via the character D-Fens from the film Falling Down.
- For William Afton's big reveal, they wanted to keep the simplicity as a slight nod to Matthew Lillard's role in Scream.
- Multiple real-world serial killers, such as Edmund Kemper, Robert Berchtold, and Jeffrey Dahmer, appeared to inspirations for William Afton's movie depiction.[3]
References[]
- ↑ 12:46 "I was supposed to be in Philadelphia, but I just got cast in a movie called "Five Nights at Freddy's".../...Yeah, it's very fun, it's a three-picture deal with Universal, and Blumhouse..."
- ↑ Ashley Levy explaining some of the inspirations for William Afton & his alias.
- ↑ Christian Stokes showing a cast wall for the FNaF Movie featuring inspiration boards for multiple characters, including William Afton.
Characters | ||
---|---|---|
Five Nights at Freddy's | ||
Animatronics | Freddy Fazbear • Bonnie • Chica • Mr. Cupcake • Foxy • Golden Freddy • Torture Freddy Chair • Balloon Boy • Ella • Shadow Freddy • Sparky | |
Humans | Mike Schmidt • Steve Raglan/William Afton • Abby Schmidt • Vanessa Shelly • Aunt Jane • Maxine • Jeff • Uncle Hank • Carl • Doug • Jeremiah • Dr. Lillian |