First behind the scenes look at Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 teases flashback scene and shows the return of Matthew Lillard's villain

The first official look at Five Night at Freddy’s 2 is here, and it looks like the upcoming horror sequel will shed some light onto villain William Afton's chilling past.

The behind-the-scenes shot, posted on Twitter by Dawko, shows child murderer Afton (Matthew Lillard) standing at the top of a staircase watching over his daughter Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail). The pair look to be in their family home, judging by the photograph of a man and a blonde-haired child on the mantle piece. Check out the image below.

FNAF fans are already debating over what the scene might entail. When streamer Dawko shared the picture on his live stream, he seemed to be certain that the image is from a flashback scene: "Flashback scenes confirmed… we are getting William Aton flashbacks in FNAF 2." And fans seem to think so too as one replied, "Gotta be a flashback for SOMETHING... Just can't think of what."

Seeing as though the first movie ended with Vanessa in a coma and William seemingly bleeding to death and left to face the four killer animatronics, it would make sense that these characters could be returning only in flashback scenes. As, at this point, it is not clear if either character is still alive in the present day.

However, for some, this image has only further confirmed that the sequel will act as a prequel just like the second FNAF game. The Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 video game is set in the late '80s and follows a different security guard who watches over a different pizzeria where the animatronics have facial recognition technology and appear more withered than we see them in the first game. Furthermore, leaked set photos show an abandoned restaurant with a different Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria sign – could this be Afton’s first restaurant?

The first movie follows security guard Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson) as he watches over Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria only to find it crawling with crazed animatronics possessed by deceased children killed by Afton. An official synopsis for number 2, directed by Emma Tammi, is yet to be revealed as well as a cast list, but we know that Lillard, Lail, and Hutcherson will be returning.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 hits theaters on December 5, 2025. For more, check out our list of the best horror movies of all time, or keep up with upcoming horror movies heading your way this year and beyond.