William Afton (Films)/Synopsis

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The synopsis of William Afton from the Five Nights at Freddy's film.

Past

“	The genius who created Fazbear Entertainment opened Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria to indulge in his two greatest passions: family-friendly fun and cutting-edge animatronic technology.	„
	~ Kim talking about Fazbear Entertainment's founder, who is heavily implied to be William.

Pretty much like his video game counterpart, William Afton's backstory regarding his early life and personal past are completely left ambiguous and shrouded in mystery as it is never stated nor hinted what his life was like before the 1980s to explain how or why he became the way he did, leaving his motives for his actions unanswered. However, judging by his age (which seems to indicate that he is in his fifties during the events of the film) as well as speaking in an American English accent, it could be assumed that William was born in the United States of America at some point during the 1940s. The film's novelization explicitly states that he is "fiftyish" by the time the film takes place, which means that William was born around 1941 and 1950.

William Afton in the 1980s with his daughter Vanessa.

While not confirmed, it's implied that William founded Fazbear Entertainment somewhere in the 1970s and opened a restaurant called Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place on April 5th, 1979, which had four animatronics - Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie the Bunny, Chica the Chicken and Foxy the Pirate. The pizzeria also featured another variant of Freddy and a golden rabbit springlock suit that could function both as an animatronic and as a wearable costume. The origin of these suits remains unclear as it is never stated nor hinted that they used to be previous mascots before the Fazbear Band nor leaving out the possibility that a Fredbear's Family Diner may have existed in this continuity, but they most likely were suits that belonged in Freddy's from the start. At one point, he met an unnamed woman who presumably became his wife, with whom he conceived a little girl whom he would name Vanessa, but it's never stated what happened to William's wife as she is never even mentioned. However, since he is a serial killer, it's possible that he murdered her.

First Murders

“	So I used to have a brother, his name was Garrett, and when I was... about 12, he was, uh, he was taken, and I was there when it happened. They never found the guy who did it, and they never found my brother.	„
	~ Mike telling Vanessa how his brother Garrett was kidnapped by William Afton.

Afton kidnapping Garrett in front of Mike.

At some point during 1987, a twelve-year-old Mike Schmidt went with his parents and his little brother Garrett to a camp located in Nebraska, where they were having a picnic while eating grilled hamburgers with chips while Garrett happily and innocently played with his red toy airplane. But because of Mike's father being busy grilling the patties and his mother having to go find a rag to clean up the table due to her accidentally spilling a bottle of Coke, Mike was tasked to watch over Garrett, so he stopped eating for a second and stood up from his seat to make sure his little brother was safe and sound. But, when he got distracted for a second after picking up a frisbee that had landed nearby, William (who for unknown reasons was in the same camp as Mike's family) quickly grabbed Garrett and took him away in his black car and began driving away at full speed from the place. Mike, who witnessed how his brother was being kidnapped, tried to run as fast as he could to chase the kidnapper's car, to no avail. While it's unknown what exactly William did to the boy, he would go on to kill Garrett for unknown reasons, possibly making him his first victim. Following Garrett's kidnapping, Mike's parents began a police investigation to find him, but everything came to nothing with neither Garrett nor his kidnapper having been found, leaving the family devastated. This tragic event hurt Mike the most, leaving him with severe PTSD that would stay with him throughout adulthood.

“	Tragedy tonight at a local pizzeria where five children who were attending a birthday event suddenly and mysteriously vanished into thin air.	„
	~ A reporter talking about Afton's kills (note that this fragment can only be found in an unlisted video uploaded by Universal Pictures onto YouTube).

William grins evilly moments before killing his last victim.

One night, five children would attend a birthday party at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place. William would take advantage of this and put on the Yellow Rabbit suit to gain the children's trust and subsequently kill them one by one. If the 8-bit opening sequence at the beginning of the film is taken as a literal representation of how the events took place, it can be assumed that William first targeted and lured a red-haired boy and subsequently killed him, stuffing his body into the Foxy animatronic. Later on he would give balloons to four of the remaining children and would convince one of them to follow him to the safe room, where he would also kill him and stuff into the Freddy Fazbear animatronic. William then would lure away a blonde little girl, kill her and stuff her corpse into the Chica animatronic. His penultimate victim would be a blonde boy whom he would stuff inside the golden variant of Freddy Fazbear, with his last victim being a dark-skinned little boy whose body would be stuffed into the Bonnie animatronic. This series of events would cause the children's spirits to possess the restaurant's animatronic mascots and develop a thirst for revenge against William for taking their lives. Subsequently, a police investigation was initiated to find the children, to the point where the entire pizzeria was inspected in depth to discover the children's whereabouts, but in the end everything came to nothing due to the children never being found, therefore causing Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place to close its doors permanently due to this unfortunate tragedy. While it is unknown on what exact date the murders occurred, it can be assumed that they occurred after Garrett's kidnapping, in between 1987 and 1989.

A New Identity

“	You have to understand, the... the kids, they don’t want to hurt anyone, it's-it's him. He influences them somehow. He took everything from them, but they don’t remember.	„
	~ Vanessa revealing to Mike that the animatronics are being controlled and manipulated by Afton.

After committing his murders, Afton would have to change his name so as not to arouse suspicion and be caught by the authorities, with his new identity as career counselor "Steve Raglan". After the permanent closing of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place, the abandoned pizzeria would become a hot spot for any types of trespassers, vandals and burglars. However, according to William's words, the owner of the restaurant refuses to have the establishment demolished despite everything mentioned previously due to his attachment to it. However, if we assume William is the founder of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place, then he refuses to have the pizzeria demolished due to him taking advantage of his new identity to lure several security guards to the pizzeria so that they would be killed by the animatronics, which are somehow being controlled by Afton, while also creating a deadly custom-made contraption that could saw the guards' faces, a clear example being Bob (the security guard seen at the beginning of the film), who ended up dying to it. This could also assume that William has been doing this for nearly two decades, implying that there were numerous other security guards who fell under Afton's tricks.

While not confirmed, it's implied that when Vanessa learned about her father's true colors, he threatened and manipulated his daughter Vanessa into assisting him in the murders or at the very least help him in covering them up against her will. This would continue through years as Vanessa grew to become a patrol officer who would patrol the pizzeria from time to time and befriend the various night guards who had the misfortune of monitoring the establishment.

Five Nights at Freddy's

Tricking Mike

“	Steve Raglan: It's a security gig. Full discloser: it's not great. High turn over, that's what we call it in the business, but you get to be your own boss. Sort of. And you only have to worry about one thing! Keeping people out and- and- You know- and keep the place tidy. Mike Schmidt: That's two things. Steve Raglan: ...You want the job or not?	„
	~ Afton offering the night guard job to Mike. File:WilliamAfton2023FilmWilliamSteveRaglanDialogue3.ogg

William Afton's first physical appearance in the film.

In the year 2000, after an adult Mike Schmidt has been recently fired from his job as a mall security guard after assaulting a father whom he mistook for a kidnapper due to his past trauma with Garrett, he is sent to visit "Steve Raglan". He at first acts condescending towards Mike as he reads him out loud a folder where Mike's past jobs are housed, to the point he even assumes that Mike doesn't keep a job on purpose, though he still begs for "Steve" to help him. However, upon reading Mike's last name, Steve's attitude immediately changes from mocking to stunned and shocked, recognizing him as the brother of Garrett, the boy he killed two decades ago.

Steve tries to divert the topic by offering Mike some coffee as a friendly gesture, but the latter rejects the offering. After that, Steve confesses to Mike that his job options are very "limited" due to his track record; in other words, he tells Mike that he won't be able to keep a job properly with the way he acts. Mike insists that he can work whatever it is, no matter what the job consists of, and Steve tells him it's not that easy but he still has one job available for him: a security gig at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place. Mike is initially reluctant to take the job since the pay isn't great and it requires him to work a night shift. Before he could leave the office, Steve gives him a card in case he changes his mind.

William Afton's plotting as his plan is coming to fruition.

Mike eventually calls Raglan to take up the job in order to keep his sister, Abby, from going into the custody of their Aunt Jane, a call which Abby ends up hearing from afar. On his way to the abandoned pizzeria, Steve reveals to Mike the backstory of Freddy's, how popular it was in the 1980's, how it was forced to shut down and why it's still standing after several years due to the owner's attachment to it. Before hanging up, he gives Mike some advices on how to activate the pizzeria's electricity (which still functions) and how to monitor the establishment. After hanging up, Steve stares at the camera with a neutral face, which could be interpreted as him plotting as his plan coming to fruition, as well as foreshadowing his true colors. Meanwhile, he orders Vanessa to keep an eye on Mike and kill him if he ever found out the truth behind the kidnapping of his brother.

Discovering the Truth

During his first night, Mike would have vivid dreams where he would experience again the day his brother Garrett was kidnapped, but once he lost sight of the kidnapper's car, the ghosts of the Missing Children appear right behind Mike, staring at him motionless. When Mike asks them if they saw who took his brother, the children suddenly run away, Mike tries to chase one of them, but ends up tripping and immediately wakes up from his sleep. On his second night working at Freddy's, Mike inspects the establishment's security cameras but ends up falling asleep, where he would once again experience the same dream of his brother's kidnapping. The ghosts of the children reappear and Mike begs them not to run away this time in order to find out who kidnapped his brother, but he still receives no answer and the ghosts run away yet again. Mike attempts to chase the child possessing Foxy, but the latter ends up cutting him with a hook on his arm, causing Mike to bleed profusely, before letting out a disturbing scream as Mike once again wakes up.

Following this, Mike hears the doorbell and when he gets to the door he meets Vanessa, who notices that his arm is bleeding. After bandaging it, she confesses that she knew the place pretty well due to it being on her surveillance route, and in fact; she loved the restaurant when she was a kid before it closed its doors. In their conversation, she also told him that the pizzeria had to shut down due to the disappearance of a group of children. Once morning strikes, Aunt Jane hires a group of delinquents to vandalize the pizzeria in order to make Mike look incompetent and incapable of taking care of an abandoned pizzeria, which would get him fired and for her to gain custody of Abby. Once the group of vandalizers begin the break-in, Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Mr. Cupcake and Foxy — come alive and slaughter them one by one. Among the group of criminals was Abby's babysitter Max, whose death results in Mike being forced to bring Abby with him for the rest of his shifts.

On the third night, Mike brings Abby to work, where the latter builds a fortress to sleep, but eventually wakes up after hearing a voice whispering her name and decides to go explore the restaurant while Mike is asleep. At the same time, Mike relives his dream where he only encounters one of the Missing Children; precisely, the one who possessed Golden Freddy, who is drawing a figure in the ground. Mike begs him to help him find who took his brother and the boy tells him that they would only tell him who the kidnapper was if Mike gave them something in return. Mike desperately replies that he'll give them anything, but before there's even an agreement, he turns his head around after hearing Abby screaming, and before he wakes up, the boy disappears, revealing to Mike that the figure he was drawing was a rabbit suit.

“	Mike Schmidt: I won't get angry at you, but I really need you to help me understand, please. Abby Schmidt: That's when Garrett got taken. Mike Schmidt: Abby, who told you about that? W-Was it a-a boy with blonde hair? (Abby nods) Mike Schmidt: Did that boy ever tell you anything about the man driving that car? Anything at all? Okay, just think, think really hard, okay? Abby Schmidt: No. All they talk about is a yellow rabbit.	„
	~ Abby confessing to Mike that the ghosts of the Missing Children informed her of Garrett's kidnapping and a "Yellow Rabbit".

Vanessa stares at the drawing of the Yellow Rabbit with the Missing Children.

When Mike wakes up and can't find his sister, he runs out of the office to look for her and finds her surrounded by the animatronics, but it turns out that they were only tickling her and her screams were just that of laughter. The little girl introduces the animatronic characters to her brother, who appear to be quite friendly. A stunned Mike then brings Abby back to go back to the office until the end of his shift. Once back home, Mike looks at Abby's drawings and realizes she's been drawing the same children Mike saw in his dreams. Not only that, but the girl also drew Garrett's kidnapping despite having never met him. Abby confesses that her friends are ghosts, hence why they're capable of moving independently. They told her everything that happened during the event, but neither she nor they know who the kidnapper actually is.

On the fourth night, at Freddy's, Vanessa is seen staring at a drawing of the Yellow Rabbit holding hands with five children, foreshadowing her personal connection with William. Afterwards, Mike and Abby arrive at the location and Mike accuses Vanessa for not having told him that the animatronics were being possessed by the Missing Children. Afterwards, Abby decides to build a big fort out of chairs and tables with the animatronics, to which Vanessa and Mike join in and eventually go to look for tablecloths to serve as a ceiling for the fort. During their search, Mike finds an old springlock suit of a doll, but Vanessa stops him before he even gets to touch it, due to the suit being extremely dangerous. Mike doesn't understand how Vanessa knows so much about the restaurant, he wants to find out who Garrett's kidnapper was, but Vanessa tells him to let it go. Mike asks her who she really is, to which she replies that she's someone who just wants to help. When they return to the main room, they find Abby dancing and celebrating with the animatronics, but accidentally gets injured by touching Bonnie's guitar. Thankfully, she's able to recover as the night shift ends. Outside of the restaurant, Mike asks Vanessa what she's so afraid of and why she won't answer his questions, but all Vanessa does is respond by threatening to shoot him should he ever bring Abby back to the establishment.

Convinced that his sister can no longer accompany him at work, Mike calls Aunt Jane to take care of Abby, much to the little girl's displeasure. Mike once again returns to the restaurant during the day and overdoses on sleeping pills and once again he enters the same dream, but this time it is different, it is an alternate version of the events, where his family is reunited and Garrett was never kidnapped. The Missing Children tell him that this was what he wanted and that they could make Mike dream with this altered version of the events every night in exchange for Mike giving them Abby. Blinded by guilt, Mike accepts, but immediately regrets it. The dream changes once again, and the Missing Children begin to attack him, giving him severe wounds in the process. Once Mike wakes up, he is trapped in the deadly contraption built by Afton. Fortunately, he manages to escape at the very last second before the device's blades can penetrate his face and he finds the mangled corpses of Max and her friends. A frantic Mike attempts to escape the establishment and is attacked by Foxy in doing so, but is able to evade the fox just in the nick of time. Meanwhile, Abby is lured to the pizzeria by Golden Freddy after the latter kills Aunt Jane, which he passes off as her "sleeping".

“	Vanessa Shelly: I tried to warn you, I really did try in my own way. But it's too late now. He knows that you're looking for him. He'll be coming. Mike Schmidt: You need to tell me who he is. Vanessa Shelly: His name is William Afton, he's my father.	„
	~ Vanessa revealing to Mike that she is related to William Afton.

Mike wakes up in a police compound thanks to Vanessa finding him shortly before he passed out from his injuries. Mike then angrily confronts Vanessa for knowing what happened to the Missing Children and what they're capable of before asking what they want with his sister, to which she replies that they want to turn her into a fellow animatronic. She also tells him the truth about the disappearances at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place, stating that the children don't want to hurt anyone, but it's William who influences them to do so, as well as revealing to Mike via photo that her father was none other than William Afton himself. In the picture, a younger Vanessa is seen with her father (wearing the Yellow Rabbit suit) back when the restaurant was open, in which she is also seen holding the toy plane that once belonged to Garrett, most likely given to her by Afton as a sick gesture. She also warns Mike that William knows he's coming for him and that soon he would be coming to the restaurant to finish the job himself.

Final Battle

“	William Afton: You couldn't just leave it alone, could you!? Lucky me! This is perfect. First, I killed your brother. Now, I kill you. Symmetry, my friend! Mike Schmidt: Go to hell. William Afton: Wake up, children! I have something for you to play with! This is gonna be so much fun. The little ones tell me you have a sister. She will love it here! You, however, are finished! Farewell, Michael Schmidt.	„
	~ William Afton taunting Mike Schmidt.

William Afton wipes his knife as he prepares to kill Mike.

After saving Abby from getting springlocked by Chica and taking care of Mr. Cupcake, Mike tries to call for his sister, but immediately stops as he hears heavy and metallic footsteps coming from the pizzeria's entrance. Out of the shadows emerges none other than William Afton himself, the man responsible for the murders of the children and Garrett, re-equipping his imposing Yellow Rabbit suit after two decades. Mike attempts to electrocute him by using a taser Vanessa gave him before he arrived at the pizzeria, but it doesn't end up affecting Afton nor the suit. Taking advantage of this, William makes a maneuver in which he ends up snatching the taser from Mike's hands, leaving him completely unarmed. The two engage in a brief fight, in which Afton easily overpowers Mike through a surprising amount of strength by knocking him down to the floor and leaving him incredibly bruised. He taunts and teases Mike about the coincidence of him killing Garrett all those years ago and how he's now about to kill him and his sister, calling it "symmetry". Mike furiously responds by telling him to go to hell, to which Afton laughs at him before knocking him out via kicking him in the face.

In an attempt to stop William from killing Abby, Vanessa gets stabbed in the abdomen by him.

William reactives the animatronics and influences them once again to ensure Mike doesn't escape as he pulls out a knife before wiping it, preparing to kill him once and for all, only to be stopped by Vanessa, who threatens him with her gun, finally standing up to him after years of manipulation and abuse. This leads to William taking off the Yellow Rabbit's head, revealing himself to be the career counselor Mike talked to previously, "Steve Raglan". William tells her that she may have forgotten her loyalties, but the animatronics have not. Despite this, he still tries to force back into being his assistant, but due to pressure she ends up shooting him, much to William's anger. In a fit of rage, he snatches Vanessa's gun from her hands and confronts her for not killing Mike from the moment he got suspicious. Mike, who has now just regained consciousness, realizing that Afton has been controlling the animatronics through the drawings on the wall that depict the Yellow Rabbit as the Missing Children's friend, tells Abby to quickly make a drawing of the Yellow Rabbit murdering the children in order to make them remember that he was the man who hurt and used them. Once the drawing is finished, Abby then rushes towards the wall where the drawings are located. Noticing this, William attempts to approach and kill her, to which Vanessa once again tries to stop him, only to end up getting stabbed in the abdomen by her father, something that temporarily surprises William, but ultimately he shrugs off.

Death

“	Look at you... Look at the NASTY things that you have become! Look at how small you are, how WORTHLESS you are! You are wretched, rotten little beasts! I MADE YOU!	„
	~ William's villainous breakdown as the animatronics turn on him. File:WilliamAfton2023FilmDialogue2.ogg

"I always come back!"

Once Abby reaches the wall of the drawings, she furiously removes the original drawing of the Yellow Rabbit and the Missing Children from it and then replaces it with the new drawing depicting what really happened. Subsequently, the establishment's electricity goes completely off immediately after this. With the help of Mike, they shine a light on the drawing, exposing Afton. Now recognizing him as their murderer, the animatronics break free of his influence and furiously turn on him. Once they surround Afton, the latter breaks into a rage and begins insulting the animatronics, calling them "small", "worthless" and "wretched, rotten little beasts", claiming that he made them.

Subsequently, Mr. Cupcake launches himself at Afton and began biting out the suit's torso, forcing the latter to pull the prop off the suit. While he manages to do so, it accidentally triggers the suit's springlock mechanism, piercing through his skin and mortally wounding him, leaving Afton in an agonizing hell-like pain as his body gets torn apart, crushing him from the inside. William quickly grabs the Yellow Rabbit's head and puts it on with a demented and unnerving smile on his face, with his last words being, "I always come back" before falling over, as his victims stare at him twitching and contracting on the pizzeria's floor.

Mike and Abby manage to escape the restaurant, taking an unconscious Vanessa with them, as the establishment's structure begins to fall apart as the animatronics grab a dying William Afton and drag him to the pizzeria's safe room. Weeks after the events of Mike's fifth shift, Mike and Abby's relationship seems to have improved overtime, with them being closer than ever, as well as Abby managing to improve her social skills with her classmates. Meanwhile, Vanessa had to be hospitalized due to the severity of the stab wound that William inflicted on her. At one point, Mike visits her and expresses his thanks for helping him and his sister when she didn't have to and hopes that she gets well soon.

A dying Afton raises his hand, begging Cassidy to help him.

Meanwhile, at the remains of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place, the boy possessing the Golden Freddy animatronic, Cassidy, emotionlessly watches William Afton suffer from inside the suit, still twitching and writhing in pain all while moaning and whining in agony even in death. Noticing the boy's presence and in his last moment of strength, William is barely able to raise his right arm, almost as if he's asking the soul to help him. Cassidy, knowing better, refuses by closing the door to the safe room and locking him inside, leaving Afton to forever suffer inside the animatronic suit just like his victims as punishment for his actions. With William's death, Garrett, the missing children whom Afton had murdered and all the other innocent night guards (including Bob) that worked at the pizzeria are avenged.

Five Nights at Freddy's 2/Return

Afton will return as Springtrap in the upcoming sequel as, like the animatronics who are possessed by the spirits of the children he had murdered, it's implied that he will possess the Yellow Rabbit suit in Five Nights at Freddy's 2, on December 5, 2025.