New Line Cinema originally didn't ask Robert Englund to return as Freddy Krueger and refused to give him a pay raise. A stuntman was cast as Freddy at the start of production. After two weeks of filming, Robert Shaye realized this was a terrible lapse in judgment, fired the stuntman, hired Englund, and met his demands.
The only "Nightmare" film in which the lead character is male.
In an interview featured in In Search of Darkness: Part II (2020), Robert Englund states that he was fully aware of the homoerotic elements of the film and was enthusiastic about playing up these undertones in the on-screen interactions between Freddy and Jesse. Mark Patton says in Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010) that he had to say no to some pieces of business, such as Freddy putting his blades in Jesse's mouth, that made him feel uncomfortable.