#TheGoldbergs Halloween episode this year is going to be a NIGHTMARE! @RobertBEnglund will guest star as the one and only Freddy Krueger! pic.twitter.com/JduaQYqeiP
— The Goldbergs (@TheGoldbergsABC) September 21, 2018
Fifteen years in the making, but Robert Englund is finally returning to the screen as one of horror’s biggest icons … in the ABC show The Goldbergs.
For years, Englund has insisted that he is too old play the role anymore, now at the age of 71, but I think for fans of Englund, Freddy, and the Nightmare franchise, there is really no such thing. Plus, even though Jackie Earle Haley did the best he could in that 2010 reboot, there is really no competition. Playing Freddy is a skill, and it’s one that Englund has mastered.
According to ScreenRant the episode of the long-running series that Englund will be in is titled “Nightmare on Elk Avenue,” and will focus on the show’s “teenage protagonist Adam’s (Sean Giambrone) struggles with the terror he experiences after seeing the original Nightmare on Elm Street movie for the first time. Presumably, this leads Adam to have his own Freddy dreams, which is where Englund comes in.”
Between this and the Halloween movie coming out next month, this is good news for horror fans. So far, the reviews coming out about the Halloween movie are positive, and there hasn’t been a new Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th movie in the works for a long time. If it does well, and putting on the iconic costume makes Englund nostalgic for the days of Freddy past, I think that this could be a great way to revive three franchises for the upcoming years. I know we are “sick of reboots” in theory, but the fact is that when it’s good, everyone wins.
Of course, doing a television episode is different than filming an entire movie, but we can still hope. Not to mention Englund has his own vision for what he would do if given the budget to make his own Freddy movie:
He revealed that he had a big enough budget, he’d have a bunch of different actors play Krueger for all of the potential victims, noting that “Freddy is only alive in the imagination of his future victim.” It would be awesome to see Englund get back into the franchise in any way possible, even if it’s behind the camera.
He has also voiced support for Kevin Bacon in the role to ComicBook.com: “Kevin was in Friday the 13th I know way down deep, Kevin has a respect for horror. He’s not one of those guys that goes on the talk show and says, ‘This isn’t a horror movie. It’s a psychological drama.’ You know? There’s a lot of people that still put down the genre.” A Footloose/Nightmare crossover … I can’t say I hate it.
Until then, I will absolutely tune in to this episode of The Goldbergs just to see Freddy once more. Right now, ABC has not announced an official release date for when The Goldbergs Halloween episode will air, but it’s most likely some time in October.
Would you want to see Robert Englund as Freddy in a Nightmare on Elm Street movie again? Let us know below.
(via Screen Rant, image: Screengrab)
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