Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 Gets First Real Update (And Fixes A Major Franchise Problem)

The Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise has been lording over video games and haunting kids’ nightmares for over a decade now, so long that the length of time it took the first movie to get made almost made fans worry it was too late. As we know, even dismal critical reception to the films couldn’t stop the fandom, though, with both Five Nights at Freddy’s movies grossing over $200 million at the global box office each, an incredible feat for modern horror movies, but especially one that walks the line between being kid-friendly and being super scary.

The success of the second movie in the series, plus the way it clearly set up the next chapter of the story, means that a third Five Nights at Freddy’s film is inevitable. Now, the next movie in the series has officially gotten its first update with Dread Central bringing word (corroborated by The Hollywood Reporter) that Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 is moving forward and will be written by IT, Annabelle, The Nun and ‘Salem’s Lot screenwriter Gary Dauberman. For anyone paying attention to the series, this marks a major shift for the FNAF movies, and it’s one that addresses some of the biggest criticisms of the series thus far.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 Taps IT Writer for Script

The first Five Nights at Freddy’s movie featured a screenplay credited to director Emma Tammi, Seth Cuddeback, and Scott Cawthon. That last name should ring bells in fans’ heads, as Cawthon is the creator of the entire Five Nights at Freddy’s game franchise. As others almost certainly would be, Cawthon was clearly precious about his franchise and wanted to be hands-on with how it was treated on the big screen. He continued in his role as screenwriter for the second movie as well, receiving sole credit for 2025’s Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.

There’s one problem with this, though, which is that the writing across both “FNAF” movies was one of the biggest criticisms of each film. Reviews for both films were quick to note the poor writing in each, with the two films being overloaded with Easter eggs for die-hards but also no real narrative structure and paper-thin characters. As a result, Five Nights at Freddy’s movies bringing in a writer who has a lot of experience adapting dense material but also delivering blockbuster horror is a great sign for the future of the series.

Since making his Hollywood debut with the script for Annabelle back in 2014, Gary Dauberman has been one of the most consistent horror screenwriters for studios in that time. Not only was he a major architect in expanding The Conjuring Universe beyond the main films and making the spinoff films work on their own, but he also managed to wrestle Stephen King’s totemic IT into two blockbuster movie scripts. As a result, he seems like the perfect person to come in and not only get Five Nights at Freddy’s back on track, but to find ways to actually make its dense lore and references work within an actual story.

According to THR, director Emma Tammi is expected to be back behind the camera for the new film, with Cawthon also still involved as a producer for the new film. One question the trade posed though, is which cast members might return, with the likes of Josh Hutcherson, Piper Rubio, and Elizabeth Lail all expected to be back, which should make fans happy considering the cliffhanger nature of the last movie’s conclusion.

The big question for fans will no doubt be: Will the Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 movie be an adaptation of the third game, or will it go its own way? The ending of the last movie seemed to indicate that it would at least partially adapt that title in the series, but as the FNAF films have already proven, this series is marching to the beat of its own drum while using the games as a roadmap.

How Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 Sets Up a Third (And Fourth) Film in the Horror Franchise With Major Cameos