10 Characters Who Survived The Movie (Only To Suddenly Die In The Sequel)

10. Nancy Thompson - A Nightmare On Elm Street

Nancy Thompson is a great protagonist in the original Nightmare on Elm Street. She goes through a lot in the movie and ends up being a pretty strong young girl, crafting a plan to bring Freddy Krueger into the real world and kill him. She’s finally (mostly) successful in the last act, able to outsmart Freddy, strip him of his powers and move on with her life.

Though there's the ominous sequel hook that Freddy might still be alive, the ending of the film still spares Nancy and allows her to survive. She’s not in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, so at first it seemed like the franchise would just let her ride off into the sunset.

But then she does return in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, and after everything she went through in the original movie, this time Freddy just kills her, disguising himself as her father and stabbing her to death. That’s it. It’s a dramatic and shocking moment to be sure, but it’s disappointing to revisit the original Nightmare and see Nancy emerge victorious, only to remember that Freddy is just going to kill her in the sequel anyway.