Walton Goggins Is The Perfect Choice For Horror Icon

To understand why I want Goggins to claw his way through a new generation of dreamers, we must first review what makes Robert Englund so difficult to replace. For one thing, his replacement would need to be able to pivot between being scary and hilarious, something Englund mastered long ago. While Walter Goggins doesn’t spew one-liners like Freddy Krueger in Fallout, The Ghoul’s interactions with other characters (particularly Lucy) highlight how effortlessly he can pivot from funny to fear-inducing and back again.

Another factor that makes Englund so hard to replace is that he always knew how to ride the line tonally: the Nightmare On Elm Street films were scary without being utterly terrifying and funny without being overly campy. Jackie Earle Haley never found that balance, which sapped all the personality out of his performance as the dream demon. However, Walter Goggins lends The Ghoul pathos, gravitas, and utterly black humor, the combination of which would help the actor remake Freddy Krueger in his own ghoulish image.

Speaking of ghoulish imagery, I’d love to see Walter Goggins play Freddy Krueger because of his uncanny ability to emote under that heavy makeup. He may genuinely be the first actor since Englund to bring such a fearsome false face to such a creepy life. Goggins could be another Doug Jones in his ability to transform potentially one-note monsters into fully realized screen icons, and he should have a chance to do the same with the inevitable new incarnation of this famous movie monster.

I say “inevitable” because some of you are already putting on your replica claw and demanding why I would want Walter Goggins to replace Freddy Krueger or even want a Nightmare On Elm Street reboot in the first place. Here’s the thing: I don’t want a reboot, but I’m certain that studio greed will bring this franchise back sooner rather than later. If Freddy’s return is inevitable, then we should support the best man getting the part, and Goggins is the best possible choice.

The ability to reinvent itself is crucial to its ongoing success. That’s the reason that we’re getting one new Scream film after another, but venerable franchises like Friday the 13th and Nightmare On Elm Street are deader than a Crystal Lake camper. While Friday the 13th has been mired in legal hassles, Elm Street merely collapsed under the weight of a crappy reboot; casting Walter Goggins as Freddy Krueger sooner rather than later could help this ailing franchise start “playing with power” yet again.

If you’re not convinced that Walter Goggins would make a killer Freddy Krueger, just go rewatch the first season of Fallout. His Ghoul offers only the smallest preview of what this world-class actor can do with one of horror’s most legendary roles. Should we get another phoned-in performance from someone like Jackie Earl Haley, though, the resulting film will be a nightmare scarier than anything Freddy could ever conjure.