Freddy Krueger Star Robert Englund Reveals the Real Reason He Appeared on The Goldbergs

A Nightmare on Elm Street star Robert Englund, who last donned the striped sweater of serial killer Freddy Krueger for a brief nightmare sequence in '80s-set ABC sitcom The Goldbergs, says he accepted the cameo mostly to work with star Wendi McLendon-Covey.

"I did The Goldbergs, quite simply, because I think my agent would have kicked me off the roster [laughs]. My agent, it's his family's favorite show. They love it," Englund said at Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia. "And Joe loves it, my agent, because he still has really fresh memories of the '80s and he loved the '80s more than I did."

Englund also received a "beautiful, beautiful email" from show creator Adam F. Goldberg "talking about the '80s and how important they were to a huge amount of our culture and population and demographic."

The episode, "Mister Knifey-Hands," saw Adam (Sean Giambrone) visit neighbors to watch the original Nightmare on Elm Street against the wishes of mother Beverly (McLendon-Covey).

"And also, that was true, he really did have to go next door because his Jewish mother didn't want him to see A Nightmare on Elm Street — he had to watch it with the next-door neighbor," Englund said. "And I just thought, 'That's funny.'"

"And here's the real reason, bottom reason — well, they did make me an offer I couldn't refuse — but the real reason was I got to hang out with Wendy McLendon for a week," Englund continued. "I loved her on Reno 911 and I loved her in Bridesmaids, and she is, genuinely, along with Kate McKinnon, she's genuinely one of the three or four funniest women working on television today. It was just so fun working [with her]. I mean, I bit the inside of my mouth the first time she said, 'It's Mr. Knifey-Fingers!'"

For Englund, who said at Dragon Con his "only regret" was never making a once planned Krueger prequel movie, the Goldbergs appearance gave the longtime Nightmare star another opportunity to reprise his most famous role as the horror icon.

"I'm too old to do another Freddy [movie] now," Englund previously told 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."

Season 7 of The Goldbergs premieres Wednesday, September 25 at 8/7c on ABC.