Robert Englund became immortalized as a horror icon the first time he donned the makeup and clothes of the dream stalking murderer Freddy Krueger in Wes Craven's 1984 classic A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. It's a role he went on to reprise many times, through several ELM STREET sequels, the FRIDAY THE 13TH crossover FREDDY VS. JASON, and 44 episodes of the anthology television series Freddy's Nightmares… And it's a role he should have played even more. When asked if he would play Freddy again after FREDDY VS. JASON was released to massive box office success, Englund said, "The glove still fits." But New Line Cinema, the studio that was known as The House That Freddy Built, squandered the opportunity to make more Freddy movies starring Englund, and seven years after FREDDY VS. JASON they released a poorly received ELM STREET remake starring Jackie Earle Haley as a re-designed version of Freddy.
With the years passing and his 70s approaching, Englund accepted that he wouldn't be playing Freddy again, and when he had the makeup applied for a 2014 convention appearance, it was said that was the last time he would ever be wearing the makeup.
It wasn't the last time. Robert Englund is going to be playing Freddy again. Not in a new ELM STREET film, or even in a horror project, but Englund's Freddy is back. Promos posted to social media have revealed that Englund will be appearing as Freddy on this year's Halloween episode of the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs.
Now heading into its sixth season, The Goldbergs is set in an all-mixed-up version of the 1980s. The episode Englund/Freddy will be in is titled Nightmare on Elk Avenue and it
centers on the fears of the show’s teenage protagonist, Adam, after seeing A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET.
Narrated by Patton Oswalt, The Goldbergs stars Sean Giambrone, Troy Gentile, Hayley Orrantia, George Segal, Jeff Garlin, and Wendi McLendon-Covey – who you can see interacting with Englund's Freddy in the promo below.
The exact air date of Nightmare on Elk Avenue hasn't been announced yet, but the new season of The Goldbergs begins airing on ABC on Wednesday, September 26th at 8pm, and the Halloween episode will air, fittingly, sometime in October.
Englund calls his guest appearance on The Goldbergs
a spooky valentine to the fans."
Obviously Freddy's glove still fits him fifteen years after FREDDY VS. JASON, so while we have him in the makeup and clothes again, how about we get another Englund-Freddy movie, New Line?