Here’s Who Markiplier Was Supposed To Play In ‘Five Nights At Freddy’s’

Five Nights At Freddy’s is currently in the midst of an absolutely monster box office weekend, well beyond anyone’s wildest expectations thanks to the strength of the IP and the fact that it appears to be serving fans, though not critics, very well.

It’s actually hard to think of a movie made more directly for fans and not critics, and that includes not just references to the game, but references to the IRL world and lore surrounding the game. Namely, creators who have a certain attachment to the game. We saw Coryxkenshin as an Uber driver (this was in the trailer), and we knew that MatPat would cameo in the film as well, though the exact nature of the cameo was indeed kept under wraps, and was often wrongly reported, before the film. But it’s a part I’m told is getting “Captain America wields Thor’s hammer” reactions in the movie theater.

However, one big Five Nights at Freddy’s icon missed the cut, though not on purpose. That would be beloved YouTuber Markiplier, who has an extremely long history with the series and was indeed supposed to have a cameo in the film, but simply could not do it with scheduling conflicts, as he’s busy doing his own movie, Iron Lung.

But we know, thanks to MatPat, what Markiplier’s role was supposed to be in Five Nights at Freddy’s, were he available. He would have been front and center playing the first security guard in the film’s opening, one hunted down and fed into a woodchipper mask by the demented animatronics. That role was instead played by actor Ryan Reinike, who is not involved in any sort of inside joke casting.

So Markiplier missed out, but FNAF is such an absolutely massive success that a sequel is going to be instantly greenlit, if not a trilogy or more, and that means more movies with more potential space for cameos. Hell, just let him star in the thing, you’d probably double the box office from that alone. But while that probably won’t happen, I would absolutely expect to see him in the next one, even if it’s just a brief part like MatPat’s, which still lit up audiences despite just being a handful of lines.

The question now is what the final opening weekend tally will be, which may set a Blumhouse record, and what it’s global haul will end up being. The movie is about to quadruple its budget in its opening weekend, and is well on its way to being one of the biggest success movie success stories in 2023. Don’t underestimate the youths.

Follow me on Twitter, Threads, YouTube, and Instagram.

Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.