Five Nights At Freddy's 2 Trailer Unravels A Deeper Look At Springtrap's Backstory & Skeet Ulrich's Major Role

Universal drops a new trailer for Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, one month ahead of its theatrical release. Directed by Emma Tammi, the sequel takes place a year later, when Abby (Piper Rubio) attempts to reconnect with her animontronic friends. Given Mike’s (Josh Hutcherson) concerns, this puts him into a deep dive to get answers about the origins of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.

Per Universal, the latest trailer provides the best look at the animatronics and what threat lies ahead for Mike, Abby, and Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail).

Opening with Vanessa waking up from a nightmare, the footage unveils a younger version of her running away and hiding from her father, William Afton (Matthew Lillard), indicating that the sequel will take a deeper look at Springtrap’s origins story.

The new footage also shows Lillard’s return as Springtrap, although that seems to be reserved for flashbacks due to his character’s fate at the end of Five Nightst at Freddy’s.

After Scream‘s Skeet Ulrich was confirmed to join Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, the trailer finally reveals his first appearance, seemingly as Henry Emily. As Mike investigates, he reveals the truth about what happened to his deceased daughter after learning about the five missing children.

Henry is a core but unseen character in the original video game franchise, guiding players via cassette tapes that will help them to survive against the animontronics. He was a former best friend of William and the co-founder of Fazbear Entertainment.

Skeet Ulrich as Henry Emily in Five Nights At Freddy's 2 trailer — Skeet Ulrich as Henry Emily in Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 trailer

With Ulrich officially joining the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise, this marks his Scream reunion with Lillard after both played the original Ghostface. While they were allies in the slasher series, their dynamic looks to be different in the Five Nights at Freddy’s sequel since Henry is an adversary to Lillard’s antagonist.

The trailer ends with a terrifying look at a tethered set of animontronics known as the Withered animontronics, as they start terrorizing the town’s folk and Vanessa.

Since the trailer hints that the sequel will address Springtrap’s backstory, this would mean that they are a key part of the story. The Withered animontronics were the prebuilt versions and, due to their state, were replaced by their current counterparts ahead of a grand reopening.

In an interview earlier this year, Lillard shared that the creative team behind the sequel “learned first time… and listened to the audience” after the original movie received a mixed reception. He hinted that the follow-up would have more action and jump scares.

The first movie became Blumhouse’s highest-grossing movie, making $297.1 million despite the challenges of the pandemic. It’s expected that the follow-up will be equally successful, if not more, which would continue the studio’s more positive streak in what has been an underwhelming box office year.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 will release in theaters on December 5, 2025.