If you've been itching to see Robert Englund play Freddy Krueger since he last played the man of your nightmares in 2003's Freddy vs. Jason, then you're in luck, because ABC's 1980s-set series The Goldbergs will feature Englund as Freddy in a guest-starring role in this year's Nightmare on Elm Street-themed Halloween episode, and the show's creator/executive producer Adam F. Goldberg has now shared the story of how he got Englund to reprise his iconic role.
A recent press release sent our way included Goldberg's story of getting Englund to guest star as Freddy Krueger on The Goldbergs, as well as Adam's own personal connection to the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, which will be reflected in the upcoming Halloween episode:
From Adam F. Goldberg: “Convincing Robert Englund to come out of retirement to play Freddy Krueger one last time is a true bucket-list moment for me as a writer,” said Goldberg. “I’ve been a longtime obsessive fan, collecting Freddy artwork and action figures. It took me months to convince Robert to revisit the character. Luckily, his manager Joe Rice is a big Goldbergs fan and helped me convince Robert that the world needed to see Freddy one last time.
The moment Robert read the scene, I envisioned he recognized that I was a true fan who knew the voice of Freddy,” said Goldberg. “On our first call when we went over the script, I told him ‘of course I knew how to write lines for Freddy. He traumatized me as a child and is burned into my brain!’
“Watching Robert spend four hours getting back into makeup and bringing our script to life was a true dream and by far a highlight of the show for our cast and crew,” added Goldberg. “The story in this episode is actually true — after I saw Elm Street 3, I didn’t sleep for a week and my mom was beside herself and desperate to fix the problem.”
Titled "Mister Knifey-Hands," The Goldbergs Halloween episode will air on Wednesday, October 24th on ABC at 8:00pm ET, and we'll be sure to keep Daily Dead readers updated as more details are revealed! In the meantime, we have the official episode synopsis and image gallery below.
Synopsis: "Despite Beverly’s wishes, Jackie’s parents allow Adam to watch “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and a disagreement between the families ensues. But Beverly dreams of facing off with horror icon Freddy Krueger (guest star Robert Englund), which teaches her an important lesson about her son’s relationship with Jackie. Meanwhile, Erica realizes she’s not as popular as she once was as she starts hanging out at William Penn Academy despite the fact she’s no longer a student there."
According to the Associated Press, Englund calls his return as the iconic dream stalker (a role he played in eight films) a "spooky valentine to the fans."
In case you missed it, check out the promo video for "Mister Knifey-Hands" below, and visit here to view an image gallery from the episode.
#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
Photo by John Fleenor/ABC:
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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