Iconic A Nightmare on Elm Street villain Robert Englund has been cast as murderer Victor Creel in Stranger Things’ upcoming season 4, but the show’s best move would be to make the character a surprise good guy. Debuting in 2016 to rave reviews, the Duffer Brothers-created sci-fi/horror series Stranger Things has weathered criticisms of its inconsistent writing to become a consistently successful Netflix production throughout its 3 seasons.
The 80s influenced plot borrows from Stephen King and Stephen Spielberg alike as Stranger Things follows a group of geeky kids, their elder siblings, and a handful of parents and guardians uncovering a vast conspiracy involving mind control experiments, telekinesis, body horror, and teenage crushes. Mixing coming-of-age comedy with gruesome sci-fi horror, Stranger Things has become a unique hit for the streaming service thanks to its stellar cast, which over the years has grown to include 80s icons, Paul Reiser and Cary Elwes.
Stranger Things’ upcoming season 4 will be adding another recognizable name from the decade’s pop culture offerings, with Freddy Krueger himself Robert Englund joining the line-up. It’s almost too obvious a move for the show to make but, if Stranger Things wants to continue its winning streak of casting 80s icons in unexpected roles, the best way to use Robert Englund's considerable talents is by revealing his character to be an unexpectedly good guy, instead of as another villain. Englund’s incarnation of Wes Craven’s slasher villain may be one of cinema’s greatest monsters, but that’s all the more reason for Stranger Things season 4 to mislead viewers by casting the actor in a role that sounds blatantly villainous and revealing him to be one of the heroes.
Englund’s Season 4 Role
Seemingly a carbon copy of Freddy Krueger in everything but name, all viewers know about Englund’s season 4 role so far is that the horror veteran will play a disturbed murderer named Victor Creel. Creel has been imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital since the 50s for a spate of gruesome murders, so it’s pretty obvious that he’ll be set up as a villain of the series. Englund’s on-screen history as a bad guy extends further than just the Nightmare on Elm Street series, with the actor playing bad guys in everything from Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer to the Tobe Hooper flop The Mangler. However, Englund’s horror pedigree and the scant description available of Victor Creel shouldn’t stop Stranger Things from twisting audience expectations with the character. There’s more the hit show could do with this premise than simply another standard bad guy, as proven by the show’s transformation of Paul Reiser's Dr. Owens from a seemingly secretive government scientist to a genuinely well-meaning ally of the heroes.
A Heroic Englund Would Subvert Expectations
Robert Englund’s Freddy is not only an iconic villain, but possibly the most iconic bad guy in the crowded field of 80s horror. Unlike most horror baddies (save for fellow slasher villain Brad Dourif as Chucky of Child's Play fame), Englund did get an opportunity to show his charming side as Freddy, with the character’s wisecracks and wit being as famous as his scare factor by later installments. Casting the charismatic actor as the primary Stranger Things season 4 villain makes sense, but revealing that he’s actually a good guy would be an even more effective surprise than Reiser’s Dr. Owens turning out to be decent after all. Despite being a charming screen presence, Englund has rarely played heroes throughout his lengthy career and has been best-known as an iconic villain for decades. As such, there’s no more satisfying combination of nostalgia and subversion than casting the legendary screen baddy as a misunderstood hero, a lot like Stranger Things’ season 3 decision to cast the beloved Dread Pirate Roberts as a corrupt, mean-spirited small-town mayor despite Cary Elwes’ long history of playing charming rogues.
His Plot Could Revive Hawkins Lab
With Hopper in Siberia, it’s clear that the Russians will play a pivotal part in season 4’s proceedings, but the season 3 baddies were some of Stranger Things’ weakest villains so far and didn’t pack any of the creepy punch that the shadowy denizens of Hawkins lab had back in season 1. Since the end of season 2, it has seemed as if Stranger Things is finished with the small-town government conspiracy angle that drove the action of the first two seasons, but Englund’s character being imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital makes it likely that he could be subject to experimentation by the show’s earlier villains. As such, Creel could render them relevant to the show’s overarching plot once more. If Englund’s character is subject to experimentation like El or even just witnessed the machinations of Hawkins Lab firsthand, his plot thread could tidily reintegrate the early Stranger Things villains after a season-long absence.
He Could Be Key To Eleven’s Origin Story
Of course, there’s another reason that involving Hawkins Lab with the Freddy Krueger actor’s story strand could prove promising. Viewers got a brief glimpse into the goings-on behind the scenes in Hawkins lab back in season 2, when it was revealed that El has a long-lost sister and there are other experimental subjects with powers similar to hers out there. But this plot was dropped in favor of the Russian storyline in season 3, meaning viewers never got to learn more about how long the experiments have been going on, what powers the other subjects have, and where they’ve ended up. Englund’s character could be key to explaining the history of the lab’s experiments. After all, viewers do know Creel is in prison in the 80s for murders that took place in the 50s, so with 30 years spent behind the bars of a shady facility, he could have been at the mercy of Hawkins lab before even El’s mom was.
Alternatively, the series could even reveal Creel to be an experimental subject himself. Reigniting this storyline could fix the long-abandoned question of Kali, El’s lost sister, and bring the series back to the nefarious experiments that Hopper uncovered way back in season 1. Whether it’s that Englund’s character witnessed the experiments that created El, Kali, and others, or is a superpower-ed subject himself, there’s more potential for the Freddy Krueger actor to play an unexpectedly heroic figure who can help out the kids of Stranger Things despite his shady past, than as another forgettable human villain.