The Animatronics in the 'Five Nights at Freddy's' Film Want Abby, but Not for the Reason You Think

The Gist:

• Abby Schmidt (Piper Rubio) is a somewhat-original character in the Five Nights at Freddy's movie.
• The film places her in danger as the killer animatronics seek to harm her for their own reasons.
• Spoiler alert! This article contains plot details for the Five Nights at Freddy's movie.

The journey for Five Nights at Freddy's is one filled with meteoric rises and even some scandal. What started out as indie horror meme fodder (from a wildly controversial game creator) has become a long-running game series that now has its own film adaptation. The FNaF movie was released on Oct. 27, 2023 to record-breaking box office success despite its poor critical reception.

And as a seasoned fan might expect, the film takes a few liberties with the game's sprawling lore.

For instance, the movie repurposes several known characters from the original game series to tell its own original story. One such "original" character is Abby Schmidt (Piper Rubio), the little sister of the main protagonist of the film. Though the game's lore already has Mike's sister dead before the events of the game, she has a completely new story in the film where the killer animatronics want her. But why are they after Abby?

The FNaF movie follows Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson), a recently-fired security guard who attempts to care for his little sister, Abby. Eventually, career counselor Steve Raglan (Matthew Lillard) offers Mike a job at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a once-successful family entertainment center populated by animatronic mascot characters that became all but abandoned after a group of children was murdered there. It's here that Mike has grisly encounters with the five animatronics who have grown violent.

While they are incredibly hostile and murderous toward most teens and adults, the deadly mascots quickly befriend Abby. In turn, Abby even serves as protection for her older brother and their new companion Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) as they begin to bond. Soon, Mike discovers that the five animatronics are possessed by the spirits of the murdered children, and thus bear no hostility toward kids their own age.

Unbeknownst to the animatronics themselves, however, they are under the control of Steve, who reveals himself to be William Afton, the man who murdered the five children and hid their bodies in the animatronics. He subsequently commands the animatronics to go after Abby. While it could be said that the animatronics themselves just wanted a new playmate, William's influence caused them to pursue her so that he could continue his killing spree.

Surprisingly, though, Abby is able to turn the tables. She reveals to the animatronics that William was the one who killed them all those years ago, and they immediately turn on him. As Abby, Mike, and Vanessa flee from William's clutches, the animatronics end up killing William.

The mascots in FNaF were each driven by varying degrees of hostility, but they still maintained some childlike compassion for kids like Abby.