Horror legend Robert Englund is best known for portraying dream killer Freddy Krueger in eight films of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, making him the perfect choice to play creepy asylum prisoner Victor Creel in the latest season of Stranger Things. However, the slasher star recently revealed he was passed over for a completely different role in the previous outing.
Robert confirmed he nearly joined the cast of the Netflix phenomenon after auditioning for the third season.
He wouldn’t confirm which character he could have played, but the Elm Street star was thrilled to get a call back when another opportunity presented itself.
“I was a fan, and then I was up for a role in season three that I didn’t get,” he confirmed. “I was disappointed.”
After being turned down for season three, the Duffer Brothers clearly felt he could be perfect as Victor as it didn’t take long for them to get back in touch.
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He told the Hollywood Reporter: “I really wanted to be on the show.
“Then they called me for Victor Creel. I sent in a little home audition tape my wife filmed.”
When the first trailers were released, some fans initially assumed Victor could be revealed as the main villain for the new season.
The gory design of the dark wizard Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) certainly evoked Robert’s long stint as Freddy, and he even entraps his victims in dream-like visions before they’re brutally killed.
Although Freddy fans were thrilled to see the horror veteran back on screens, his Stranger Things performance was a mile away from the sadistic slasher villain.
Robert also revealed he took inspiration from some surprising sources to embody the mentally scarred asylum inmate.
“As actors, we access strange imagery,” he explained. “We use imagery sometimes that has nothing to do with what we’re doing.
“And one of the things I was using was a character from Treasure Island named Billy Bones, who tells a huge story to Jim Hawkins about Long John Silver.
“It had nothing to do with Freddy Krueger or Nightmare. It was just one of those weird images that come to you.”
Victor has just made a brief appearance so far, but hopefully there’s room for him to return in the remaining two episodes of season four when the gang defeats Vecna and proves his innocence.
The epic penultimate season will return at the start of July to cap off the Hawkins gang’s latest adventures with two feature-length episodes.
Stranger Things season 4, volume 1 is available to stream on Netflix. Volume 2 will be released on Friday, July 1.