List of A Nightmare on Elm Street characters


The A Nightmare on Elm Street series, created by Wes Craven, focuses on several characters who survive attacks by Freddy Krueger, the spirit of a child murderer who gains the ability to stalk and kill people in their dreams after his death at the hands of a vengeful mob.
The series consists of nine films: A Nightmare on Elm Street, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child and Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, in which Freddy is seemingly killed. A demonic interpretation followed in Wes Craven's New Nightmare, in which Freddy Krueger attempts to break free from the films into the real world. Nearly a decade later, Freddy was involved in a crossover with Jason Voorhees of the Friday the 13th franchise in Freddy vs. Jason. The series was rebooted in 2010 with A Nightmare On Elm Street, a loose remake of the original film with Englund replaced by Jackie Earle Haley and the character changed from child killer to a child molester. The franchise also consists of a television series, a video game, merchandise and literature about Freddy Krueger and his exploits, including crossovers with Jason Voorhees and Ash Williams of the Evil Dead franchise.
In the series Freddy Krueger has the ability to enter people's dreams and control them, taunting and murdering them with his glove. Nancy Thompson survives his attacks in the original film, and appeared in Dream Warriors. She was replaced by Alice Johnson as the protagonist of the fourth and fifth installments, who has special abilities in her dreams which allow her to fight Freddy's machinations. Killed off by his daughter Maggie Burroughs in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, he returns in subsequent media. In the 2010 franchise reboot starring Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy, the character is changed from a child murderer to a child molester. His bladed glove is a gardening tool instead of a handmade item, as in the original film series.
Although some films in the series were critical and financial flops, it is considered one of the most successful media franchises in the US. The series contained the first film appearances of Johnny Depp and Patricia Arquette, both of whom went on to successful, award-winning careers.

Recurring cast and characters

''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' (1984)

Donald Thompson

Donald "Don" Thompson is the father of Nancy Thompson and Marge Thompson's ex-husband. Years before the events of the first film, he participates in the murder of Fred Krueger when Krueger was freed on a technicality after a series of child murders. After this, he divorces Nancy's mother. When Tina Gray is murdered, Don uses his daughter as bait to capture Rod Lane, the suspected killer. After Rod's apparent suicide, Don ignores Nancy's reports about a resurrected Freddy Krueger and fails to help her; he and his daughter become estranged. Don realizes that Nancy was right about Freddy, and Rod did not kill Tina. He becomes an alcoholic, and loses his job.
In A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Freddy resumes his attacks on children at a clinic where Nancy works. She and Neil Gordon visit Don and persuade him to reveal the location of Freddy's body so it can be properly buried, believing that this would force Freddy into the afterlife. When they uncover his body, Freddy seizes control of his skeleton. He kills Don by impaling him with the metal fin of a Cadillac. Freddy later poses as Don to trick Nancy into dropping her guard, allowing him to fatally stab her.
In the Nightmares on Elm Street comic miniseries, Don has been trapped and tortured since his death in Freddy's realm. When Freddy breaks through into the real world, he forces Don to summon and kill Nancy's spirit in exchange for freedom. Although Don shoots her, Nancy has become similar in power to Freddy. She forgives her father, and uses her powers to free him into the afterlife. Don has a cameo appearance in Wes Craven's New Nightmare. Donald Thompson is mentioned briefly in the novels A Nightmare on Elm Street: Suffer the Children and A Nightmare on Elm Street: Perchance to Dream as being the first one to start the fire that led to Freddy's death. The comic Nightmare on Elm Street: The Beginning features Don initially attempting to stop the mob after Freddy, then joining them once the killer threatens Nancy.

Freddy Krueger

Frederick Charles "Freddy" Krueger is a child killer who is responsible for the kidnapping and murder of several children before he is captured. He is released due to a legal technicality, and the parents of the murdered children burn him alive. After his death, Freddy gains the ability to infiltrate and control dreams; he uses this to stalk and murder the remaining children on Elm Street. Despite several defeats, Freddy repeatedly resurrects himself and continues trying to kill children.

Glen Lantz

  • Played by Johnny Depp
  • Appeared in A Nightmare on Elm Street
Glen Lantz, a student at Springwood High, is Nancy Thompson's boyfriend. Before the film's events, his parents participated in the murder of Fred Krueger. He begins having a series of tormenting nightmares of a man who turns out to be Krueger's spirit, does not tell his friends, and would not let them keep him from getting some sleep, believing that they are just dreams. When his friends Tina and Rod die, Glen does not believe that their dreams were responsible. Nancy prepares to confront Krueger in her dreams, and asks Glen to stay awake and wake her at a predetermined time to help her escape danger. Glen falls asleep; Nancy cannot awaken him because of interference from his father, Walter, who sees her as a bad influence. Freddy pulls Glen through his bed and murders him, sending a stream of blood vertically through the bed up to the ceiling. Glen's body emerges from the hole of the mattress and falls, hitting the bed; Nancy later finds his headphones in Freddy's realm. Nancy turns her back on Freddy, apparently draining his powers, and dreams that all her friends and her mother are alive. Nancy and her friends go out; the car Glen is driving is revealed as possessed by Freddy. Locked in, with Glen not knowing what is happening, they go down the street as the film ends.
Glen's death was mentioned by a limousine driver in Wes Craven's New Nightmare.
This was Depp's first film role and he performed his own stunts in the bedroom death scene. Depp returned to the film series when he made a cameo appearance as Teen on TV in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, in which he presents a This Is Your Brain on Drugs public service announcement before Freddy hits him on the head with the PSA's frying pan.

Marge Thompson

Marge Thompson is the mother of Nancy Thompson and Donald Thompson's ex-wife. An alcoholic and a heavy smoker, she struggles with Nancy's growing instability from sleep deprivation and nightmares and depends on alcohol and cigarettes to help her cope. Pressured by Nancy, Marge reveals that Freddy was a child murderer who was freed on a legal technicality. She and Donald participated in Krueger's murder with other parents who lived on their street, including Glen's, Tina's and Rod's. Marge shows Nancy Krueger's glove in an attempt to convince her daughter that he is dead and cannot hurt her. However, Marge is still afraid that Krueger is somehow still alive and seeking revenge; she installs locks on the doors and bars on the windows to keep Nancy in and Krueger out. When Nancy pulls Freddy into the real world in her dream, he finds and kills Marge by suffocating her and burning her to death with his fiery body.
After Nancy defeats him, she finds her mother alive and well and runs off to join her friends. Marge waves to her and Freddy's arm bursts through the window, pulling Marge in to an unseen fate. In A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Nancy says that her mother died in her sleep.

Nancy Thompson

  • Played by Heather Langenkamp
  • Appeared in A Nightmare on Elm Street, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Wes Craven's New Nightmare, Nightmares on Elm Street, The Nightmares on Elm Street: Freddy Krueger's Seven Sweetest Dreams, and Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors
Nancy and her friends are targeted by Freddy Krueger in nightmares about a disfigured, threatening man. After the death of her best friend Tina, Nancy suspects that the dreams are real; when she learns who Krueger was and realizes that he is seeking revenge against the people who killed him by murdering their children, she searches for ways to defeat him. After he kills Glen, Nancy tries to bring Krueger into the real world to defeat him herself.
In A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 she is an intern specializing in nightmare disorders at the Westin Hills hospital, helping children who are dreaming of Freddy Krueger. With the children, she apparently defeat Freddy; however, he uses the guise of her father to get near her and stabs her in the abdomen. Before Nancy dies, she stops Krueger from killing Kristen by stabbing him with his own glove.
As Heather Langenkamp, she is a main character in Wes Craven's New Nightmare because the film overlaps reality. At the end, she finally destroys Freddy. Heather then finds a copy of the film's screenplay, with thanks from Wes for defeating Freddy and playing Nancy one last time. Nancy appears as a spirit in the comic-book crossover Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors, where she helps Neil Gordon use the Necronomicon to cast Freddy into hell.