Robert Englund regrets not doing Freddy prequel movie

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

A week or so ago we passed along word that Robert Englund hopes Kevin Bacon takes over the role of Freddy Krueger if A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET is ever rebooted. And today we're hearing from the actor that his “only regret” as Krueger is he never made a feature-length prequel that explored Krueger's child murderer years called KRUEGER: THE FIRST KILLS.

Englund:

There’s some great internet Youtube versions of a kind of prequel Freddy, or early Freddy, that I like that are really interesting. If I could go back in time, there was a script kicking around — it might have been called Krueger: The First Kills — but it’s not the series Tobe Hooper version of the prequel.

According to Englund, KRUEGER: THE FIRST KILLS centered on

Freddy and the children, two bumbling cops trying to catch him, and then these two sharp lawyers. And these are the real stars of the project, [they] get Freddy out of jail. But you see Freddy in prison, you see him meeting with his lawyers, you see Freddy in the courtroom. You see the lawyers going back and forth with the prosecution and getting Freddy off, and getting away with, obviously, murder. [Freddy would then] burn like Joan of Arc by the vigilante parents who just can’t stomach this injustice anymore.

Englund continued:

The rumor was it was going to be John McNaughton directing that, the great director of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, starring Michael Rooker. And I was excited. I was excited, and for a brief second of time, there was some validity to that project.

So what happened to KRUEGER: THE FIRST KILLS? Well when New Line Cinema was acquired by the Turner Broadcasting System, Englund says FIRST KILLS “sort of got lost.” And finally he added:

But that, that I guess I could consider a regret. That would have been when it would have been fun to do, and I was still young enough to do it. I had some ideas — I wanted to dye my hair red like I did in Freddy vs. Jason — things like that. I had some ideas I wanted to play with. That’s probably my only regret.

We can still do CGI de-aging, people! How bad do you still want to see KRUEGER: THE FIRST KILLS? Let us know below!