u/JeliLiam

With the way FNaF tells its story through short, piecemeal games that reveal a grander narrative with each entry, I’ve always felt it would be better suited to a serialized batch of 50 minute episodes in a single season miniseries, something closer to Chernobyl or other Netflix/HBO dramas, rather than trying to fit the full story into three movies and forcing major adaptation differences.

I think the pieces are there for a great thriller series focused on drama, corruption of the mind, generational trauma, and the expectations between parents and their children.

If I were to piece together a 10 episode show to tell the full story, while allowing for some lore leniency, I’d do the following.

Episode 1 - Meet the Murrays

We meet a young Edwin struggling with his admiration for his own father and his desire to be exactly like him. We see his meeting with Fiona at work, and how their relationship is strengthened by the sudden and unexpected death of Edwin’s father. Fiona comforts him through that grief, and the two eventually start a family.

When Fiona gets pregnant, a duo of entrepreneurs buy up Edwin’s go-to local diner. Edwin quickly bonds with them over their shared love of robotics, inspiring him to live up to his father’s legacy and become a great inventor. This leads to inventions like the Clean-O-Vac and Magic Coat Rack, but cracks begin forming as Edwin starts putting the idea of becoming his father above being himself for his own family.

The episode ends with the creation of the Mimic as a babysitting device for his newborn son.

Episode 2 - Fall Fest

This is where the drama truly begins. A calculated fire at Fall Fest, possibly caused by William, leads to Fiona’s death. William starts showing his ruthless businessman side and begins dropping the act, while Edwin spirals into a mental breakdown as he tries to reconnect with his lost wife through the Mimic.

Edwin loses his business, his social life, and eventually his son to this obsession. When he tries to do the same thing for his son, he breaks through the delusion and locks both versions of the Mimic away, but not before teaching M2 violence, which ends up being his end.

Episode 3 - Stage01

This episode marks a shift in character focus as well as a 10 year timeskip. We now focus on the Afton family, specifically the Crying Child and young Michael. The first dominoes fall with the Bite of ’83 and William’s discovery of the supernatural afterward.

Episode 4 - Deep Underground

William ventures into the MCM bunker and discovers the Mimic. After losing his youngest son and daughter, he finds new hope in the idea of putting his children back together, pushing him into an even darker set of morals.

Episode 5 - Give Gifts, Give Life

This episode focuses on the MCI, William’s outing from the company after his fallout with Henry, and the subsequent revenge killing of Charlie Emily and the first hauntings.

Episode 6 - Dayshift

William returns to the new and improved Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. His first encounter with the haunted animatronics pushes him further into his obsession, leading to a new set of murders and experiments as he tries to learn more about this new gift.

Episode 7 - Like Father, Like Son

William returns to the MCI Freddy’s to learn more and ends up getting springlocked. Michael takes over as the new protagonist, and we learn about his nightmares and guilt since the Bite of ’83.

Episode 8 - Sister Location

Michael descends into the bunker and learns the truth of his father’s misdeeds, as well as his sister’s fate.

Episode 9 - Nightshift

This is when we finally reach the FNaF 1 era, making it the most “FNaF” episode of them all and the big fanservice reward near the end.

Episode 10 - Happiest Day

The finale focuses on the Afton family reunion inside Fazbear’s Fright, Mike’s reconnection with his younger brother, and his final decision to be nothing like his father. He chooses to destroy everything William built, taking everyone with him.

I feel like ending the story on the “good ending” line of FNaF 3 would be the most fitting choice for an adaptation. This does mean some possible shuffling of the Sister Location content and an earlier release of Elizabeth’s soul, but it makes for a more satisfying narrative.

The story starts with someone who wants to be the exact man his father was and ends with someone who wants to be nothing like his father. It also starts with William setting everything in motion through a fire and ends with everything being finished in one.

What do you think of this structure? Would this have worked as a satisfying drama/thriller series?

This dawned on me last night: Cawthon-era FNaF felt so different because it felt personal. Scott was always there, almost like a teacher in the classroom. You could put a face to the work, and you could feel his touch in everything. The model styles felt like his style. The teasers all had a certain atmosphere to them. He was around to talk with fans, compliment fan works, and even nudge theorists from time to time.

Steel Wool-era FNaF feels corporate to me. I haven't seen the face of a single Steel Wool Studios employee, and I couldn't tell you who the CEO is without Googling it. It feels disconnected. The art style feels like it's been passed from person to person until it lands in a generic middle ground that's technically good. Communication is poor, and the story feels like it's starting to cannibalize itself just to make sense anymore.

It was the flawed nature of the original games that gave them their charm, the clipping, the stock sounds and the cloud textured models, but those made you feel connected to the developer.

Yes, this era gives us "major" games that are hours long, with quality animation work and presentation that's good by modern standards. But it feels filtered, approved by higher-ups, and above all, slow.

Back in the day, we got a new FNaF game every few months. It felt like following a niche TV show and talking about the latest episode with your friends. Now it feels like waiting years for a movie each time, a movie with a huge budget and big-name actors that pull you out of the immersion and make you think, "Yeah, it's Hollywood now."

When Scott Cawthon retired, he talked about finding a replacement for himself, like the next heir to the franchise. But that never happened. I'm starting to feel like it should have, and that it would have been the right move.

Did keeping ownership, stepping back, and outsourcing development to actual studios make him more money? Possibly. I don't doubt it also came with a lot more headaches. But was it the right choice for the franchise's quality and identity? I don't think so.

What do you think? Does FNaF feel detached and corporate now? And how would you feel about a "new" Scott taking over and making the franchise feel personal again?