Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors introduced a whole spate of characters to the franchise, but whatever happened to Neil Gordon, one of the few figures to escape Freddy Krueger’s razor-tipped grasp? Future Scream director Wes Craven’s A Nightmare On Elm Street was a breath of fresh air for genre fans when it arrived in cinemas in 1984. Rather than relying on the standard-issue hack and slash killer as its antagonist, this supernatural slasher reinvented the formula somewhat by giving it's killer paranormal powers.
The Springwood slasher Freddy Krueger was an undead entity able to invade the nightmares of his victims and kill them in their sleep by distorting the reality of their dreams. The inventive premise made Freddy a formidable villain and, for the first few movies of the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise, he was all but unbeatable. However, in a welcome break from routine, the beloved Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors introduced a cast of characters who had superpowers of their own in dreams, making their fight with Freddy a little closer to being fair.
However, the Dream Warriors were not that well prepared to take on the dream demon. Half of them died by the end of Dream Warriors while the survivors were swiftly dispatched during the next outing in the franchise - save for one minor figure who seemingly vanished between movies. Neil Gordon (Craig Wasson), the doctor who ran the psychiatric facility where the title characters were being treated, survived the climax of Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and saw for certain that Freddy was real, but Neil was then never heard from again. Although his existence is never addressed in any later Nightmare On Elm Street movies, it is fair to surmise the doctor likely convinced himself the events of Nightmare On Elm Street 3 were a delusion as Freddy’s powers typically only work on teenagers throughout the rest of the franchise.
Since Robert Englund’s creepy killer dispatched the remaining Nightmare On Elm Street 3 survivors in the next sequel, then this would mean that Neil is one of the only characters in the entire series to escape the wrath of Freddy. However, while this theory does make sense within the rules of the series, there is another less hopeful possibility for Gordon's fate implied by the franchise. The final shot of Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors sees Gordon fall asleep, failing to notice the light turn itself on in Kristen’s miniature diorama of Nancy’s childhood home.
There are two ways to read this image, both of which explain Gordon’s subsequent disappearance from the series. The light turning on may mean the seemingly vanquished Freddy is getting ready to visit Gordon and ensure his permanent silence and gain revenge for his defeat, but Gordon’s failure to notice this supernatural occurrence could also imply Freddy’s presence is only visible to teenagers but adults are impervious to his powers. In either case, the absence of Neil Gordon from the later Nightmare On Elm Street movies makes sense, as the character is either unaware of Freddy’s existence or "died" in his sleep, having become one of the prolific killer’s many offscreen victims.