The A Nightmare On Elm Street franchise has seen various characters come and go, among them Kristen Parker, played by Patricia Arquette. Back in 1984, Wes Craven terrorized the audience with a one-of-a-kind slasher villain in A Nightmare On Elm Street. The movie introduces Freddy Krueger, a child killer burned alive by the parents of his victims. However, that isn’t enough to stop him, and he returns to terrorize the children of his murderers where their parents won’t ever be able to defend them: their dreams.
A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors follows teenager Kristen Parker, who is attacked by Krueger in her dreams. Krueger makes it look as if she has tried to kill herself in the real world, so her parents send her to Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital. There, Kristen fights the orderlies who try to sedate her as she doesn’t want to sleep, which catches the attention of the new intern therapist: none other than Nancy Thompson.
Kristen has the unique ability to bring people, animals, and objects from the real world into her dreams, which is very useful in their mission to defeat Krueger. However, Kristen’s gymnastics superpower is one of the silliest elements of Dream Warriors – luckily, Patricia Arquette is aware of that. Speaking to ComicBook, Arquette was asked if she would be open to playing Kristen in another Nightmare On Elm Street movie, and she gave a very specific answer. Arquette asked if she could change her superpower as she never thought that in her dreams she would be a gymnast. Arquette said she could return to A Nightmare On Elm Street if she could have another superpower, suggesting maybe invisibility or being anti-gravitational.
Kristen survived the events of A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and had the potential to be the new Final Girl in the franchise – unfortunately, she was wasted in the fourth movie. A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master is a sequel to Dream Warriors, and as such, it sees Krueger reappearing in the dreams of the survivors: Kristen, Joey, and Kincaid. Krueger finishes off Kincaid and Joey, with Kristen feeling guilty. As the last of the Elm Street children, Krueger goes after Kristen and throws her into the boiler. Kristen had a very disappointing ending in A Nightmare On Elm Street, and her potential as a Final Girl was completely wasted.