The video game adaptation Five Nights at Freddy’s is the latest horror film to be released by Peacock, and the latest video game adaptation in 2023 to be surprisingly decent. It tells the story of a troubled security guard, who uncovers a terrifying mystery at his creepy place of work, a mystery that involves kidnapped children and creepy animatronic creations. As things unfold it becomes clear that the Yellow Rabbit is behind the kidnappings, but who is the Yellow Rabbit exactly? Does the film’s ending hold the answers? We do our best to explain the details.
This article contains major spoilers.
Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023) Ending Explained
The central character in Five Nights at Freddy’s — based on the same-titled video game franchise — is the unstable security guard Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson), who is haunted by reoccurring nightmares. In these dreams, Mike relives the very moment when his brother Garrett was kidnapped all those years ago. Mike hopes to relive this same memory again and again until he can remember exactly what his brother’s kidnapper looked like.
He takes sleeping pills to help with the dreams and has many more of these unusual nightmares during his night shifts at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, an abandoned eighties family entertainment center. The dreams start to alter slightly though at his new place of work and Mike is able to communicate with other missing children in these dreams, who may know the kidnapper’s identity.
Who are the animatronic creatures possessed by?
It is later revealed that the ghosts of these missing children now live within the animatronic creatures at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza and they possess the robots to do their bidding. Once the ghost children are introduced to Mike’s little sister Abby, they want her to join them in this bizarre afterlife.
In another dream sequence, Mike agrees to let Abby be with the other children so that he can spend more time with Garrett in the dream world, but he quickly regrets this decision. Mike tries to go back on the deal, although the mistake has already been made and it cannot be undone.
The animatronic creatures take Mike hostage and start to torture him. They aim to kill him so that they can capture Abby without any further complications. Mike manages to escape from the torture device though. Meanwhile, the animatronic’s ringleader Freddy ventures to Mike’s house and kidnaps Abby, taking her back to the abandoned building.
Mike is then reunited with Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), a local police officer who knows way more about these mysteries than she has been letting on. Vanessa informs Mike that the kids are going to kill Abby, to then transform her into a ghost that will inhabit one of the unused animatronic creatures forever.
Who is controlling the animatronic creatures?
Then Vanessa confesses to everything else. She knows who the original eighties kidnapper is. This man is known as the Yellow Rabbit, named after the costume that he wears. He was the one who captured the children originally and then hid their dead bodies inside the animatronic creatures, away from the police. He now controls these children’s ghosts, making them do whatever he pleases, but they have no memory of their actions. This explains why the innocent children want to kill Abby in the first place.
Who is the Yellow Rabbit?
Vanessa then reveals that the Yellow Rabbit is William Afton, her father. He is the one who kidnapped and killed Garrett. When he later removes his helmet, William is revealed to also be Mike’s career counselor Steve Raglan, played by Matthew Lillard (Scream).
Before Mike and Vanessa face off against the Yellow Rabbit though they must first take on the other animatronic creatures, who are about to kill Abby. Using tasers and cattle prods, Mike is able to fry the other robots and rescue Abby from certain death. When all the creatures are frazzled, the Yellow Rabbit finally reveals himself.
Vanessa shoots her father, the Yellow Rabbit, to save Mike and Abby’s lives. But he stabs her back in retaliation. Abby then draws a picture, explaining to the ghost children who the Yellow Rabbit really is. They didn’t know that he was their kidnapper. All of the animatronic creatures then turn on the Yellow Rabbit. He is tortured by his own suit and dragged away by the creatures.
Five Nights at Freddy’s then ends with Abby returning to school after this horrifying ordeal. She appears to be thriving now though, making new friends at school and eating better at home. Mike seems to be doing a better job looking after Abby as well. Then he goes to visit Vanessa, who is alive but in a coma.
In the final scene, the creatures lock the Yellow Rabbit in a room in the building. He cries out in pain. Something tells me we haven’t seen the last of this villain just yet.
What did you think of the ending of Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023)? Comment below.
