Robert Englund Meets A Nightmare on Elm Street Fanatic for the Make-A-Wish Foundation

An 18-year-old A Nightmare on Elm Street superfan living with lung disease got to meet Robert Englund, the actor behind Freddy Krueger in the franchise since 1984, compliments of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Despite playing a homicidal maniac, child killer, and implied child molester for decades, Englund has established a reputation for himself in the horror community as one of the nicest guys around, and so it's arguably no surprise that he traveled out to Illinois to meet a young man named Henry, and the resulting photo can be seen in the tweet below.

Englund played the role of Freddy Krueger in eight feature films and numerous other ancillary projects during the first twenty or so years of the franchise. He recently returned to the role for an episode of the hit sitcom The Goldbergs, creatively titled "Mister Knifey-Hands."

18-year-old Henry watched A Nightmare on Elm Street while coping with his rare disease. After being referred for a wish, Henry knew he wanted to meet his favorite horror icon @RobertBEnglund, who famously portrayed Freddy Krueger! @advocatekids pic.twitter.com/qQzu1LuQhb

— Make-A-Wish Illinois (@WishIllinois) August 29, 2019

The Nightmare on Elm Street series has been dormant since the 2010 remake featuring Jackie Earl Haley as the villain, which was both a financial and critical disappointment. Haley might have given the character his all, but with Englund having portrayed the character in the first eight films, fans felt the lack of Englund and didn't respond to it well.

No plans for a new Nightmare on Elm Street film have been announced, leaving fans having to settle for this Goldbergs appearance to fulfill their Freddy craving. Additionally, Englund has previously confirmed that the physical requirements of playing Freddy are too intensive for him to return to the franchise.

"I'm too old to do another Freddy now," Englund previously shared with ComicBook.com. "If I do a fight scene now it's got to be real minimal because I can't snap my head for eight different takes and different angles. My spine gets sore. I can still be mean and scary, but I'm mostly relegated now to sort of Van Helsing roles, old doctors and sh*t. So it's fun that the last moment of me ever playing Freddy is a wink to the audience."