Robert Englund is best known for playing the wisecracking horror villain Freddy Krueger, but his fans will now be able to to see him on the upcoming fourth season of Stranger Things.
Englund, who rose to fame in Wes Craven’s classic horror film A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984), will join the hit Netflix science fiction series in a recurring role.
Also joining the cast as series regulars are Tom Wlaschiha (Game Of Thrones), Jamie Campbell Bower (Sweeney Todd) and Eduardo Franco (Booksmart), among others.
New faces: Robert Englund, 73, best known for playing Freddy Krueger, will join season four of Stranger Things, along with alumni of Game Of Thrones, Sweeney Todd and Booksmart; shown in 2015
Although Stranger Things was put on hold due to the pandemic, filming resumed last month under new coronavirus safety procedures.
Englund’s role seems tailor-made for him, as he’ll play Victor Creel, a disturbed inmate at a psychiatric hospital who has been imprisoned there since committing a horrific murder back in the 1950s.
Englund, 73, has been a horror mainstay for years, but he’s best known for playing Freddy Krueger, a child murderer who was burned alive by the vengeful parents of the neighborhood he terrorized, only for him to return with his razor-claw glove to invade the dreams of their children — with deadly consequences.
The 1984 film was a smash hit, earning $57 million against a $1.8 million budget.
It spawned six sequels, a Friday The 13th crossover film, and a critically derided remake.
Spooky: Englund’s role seems tailor-made for him, as he’ll play Victor Creel, a disturbed inmate at a psychiatric hospital who committed a murder in the 1950s; still from Stranger Things season three
Horror mainstay: Englund’s biggest role was as the serial killer who stalks children’s dreams in A Nightmare On Elm Street; publicity photo for A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
Tom Wlaschiha, who played the mysterious Jaqen H’ghar on Game Of Thrones, has also been cast in a recurring role as a Soviet prison guard.
The Stranger Things season four teaser, which was released in February, revealed that David Harbour character Jim Hopper had survived at the end of season three, only to be imprisoned in Russia, where he’ll meet Wlaschiha’s character.
Jamie Campbell Bower, who memorably played the smitten Anthony Hope in Tim Burton’s 2007 adaptation of Stephen Sondheim dark musical Sweeney Todd, will be joining the main cast as well.
He’s set to play an orderly at the psychiatric hospital where Creel is imprisoned, who chafes against the institution’s cruel practices.
Back at it: Tom Wlaschiha, who played the mysterious Jaqen H’ghar on Game Of Thrones, has also been cast in a recurring role as a Soviet prison guard; pictured in 2018
New role: Jamie Campbell Bower of Sweeney Todd fame will play an orderly at the psychiatric hospital whose fed up with its cruel practices; pictured in 2017
Eduardo Franco has been a reliable comic presence in the coming-of-age comedy Booksmart and the Netflix mockumentary American Vandal, and he’ll bring those skills to a main cast role as Argyle, a stoner and pizza delivery boy.
He’ll become the new best friend of Jonathan, played by Charlie Heaton.
The British actor Joseph Quinn, who appeared on Game Of Thrones and helped lead the miniseries version of Howards End and Catherine The Great, will play Eddie Munson, a metal head who runs a Dungeons & Dragons club at the high school in the fictional Hawkins, Indiana.
The polarizing figure is described as being at the center of the mystery animating season four.
Having a laugh: Eduardo Franco, who appeared in Booksmart, will add comic relief as a pizza delivery driver and the new best friend of Jonathan (Charlie Heaton); pictured in May 2019
Rocking out: Joseph Quinn, who starred in the Howards End miniseries, will play a metalhead and the leader of Hawkins’ Dungeons & Dragons club; pictured in September 2019
Big role: Quinn’s character Eddie Munson is described as being at the center of the mystery animating season four; still from Stranger Things season three
Other recurring characters joining the series include Sherman Augustus (Into the Badlands), who plays Lt. Colonel Sullivan, a military man who thinks he knows how to destroy the evil forces plaguing Hawkins.
Mason Dye of Bosch fame will appear as Jason Carver. He plays a popular rich kid in town whose life begins to unravel as an evil force invades the small town.
Genius’ Nikola Djuricko also joins the show as Yuri, a Russian smuggler who figures into Hopper’s time in Russia.
Stranger Things began airing on Netflix in 2016, when it instantly became a hit for the streamer.
The show focuses on a group of teens in Hawkins (Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin and Noah Schnapp) who join Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), a girl with telekinetic and psychic powers, to help vanquish mysterious forces from alternate dimensions that threaten the town.
Sherman Augustus (Into the Badlands, L), who plays Lt. Colonel Sullivan, while Mason Dye (Bosch, R) will appear as Jason Carver, a rich kid in town
Monster hit: Stranger Things began airing on Netflix in 2016, when it instantly became a hit for the streamer