Josh Hutcherson Says Mike’s Nightmare Is Just Getting Started in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2

Good news, bad news for Five Nights at Freddy's fans: the sequel is sticking with Josh Hutcherson's Mike, but if you were hoping the second movie would mirror the game's prequel vibes and give the poor guy a breather... nope.

So, how the sequel is (deliberately) not the game

The first movie tracked pretty closely with the original game, locking us in with Mike as the night guard whose new gig spiraled into ghost-robot chaos. Five Nights at Freddy's 2, though, is apparently taking a different route. In the games, the second entry jumps back in time and the playable protagonist catches something of a break. On screen, Hutcherson says Mike is still front and center and not exactly on vacation.

Mike's headspace this time

Talking to GamesRadar+, Hutcherson says Mike actually starts the sequel in a better spot. He is trying to build a stable life for his sister Abby and feels more grounded than he did in movie one. But the calm does not last.

"He is not going to get a normal life, I don't know if ever, definitely not in the sequel."

Short version: Freddy's pulls him back in. Fast.

Quick refresher on where we left off

In the first film, Mike took a night watch job at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria and discovered the animatronics were possessed by kids murdered by William Afton. That tied straight into Mike's past: Afton had abducted Mike's little brother years earlier and then set his sights on Abby. Mike and Vanessa teamed up and took Afton down by the end.

The trailer says: still haunted, one year later

Despite beating Afton, the Five Nights at Freddy's 2 trailer shows Mike still stuck replaying memories of Freddy's a year later. He is trying to live normally; the movie politely declines.

Hutcherson is game for more Freddy's

If this run continues, Hutcherson is all-in. Asked if he'd come back for more entries, he says yes without hesitation, as long as the same core team and cast return. That continuity sounds like his dream setup.

And he wants more horror in general

Outside of Freddy's, Hutcherson says he wants to do more horror, period. He thinks the genre is on a roll right now. His personal picks this year: Weapons and It: Welcome to Derry. He just caught Weapons and, in his words, it scared the shit out of him.

When it opens

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 hits theaters on December 5.