Robert Englund spent about two decades playing the nightmare-inducing Freddy Krueger in the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET movies, but he has since put his knife-hands in the closest, leaving the dream-invading racket behind. But Englund seems to have gotten a taste for the terror of Freddy again, and now that he’s reprised the role for a new Halloween episode of THE GOLDBERGS the actor revealed he may have it in him for one more bloody outing.
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The actor was speaking with Access Online recently when he was asked about a possible reboot of the franchise, which seems almost inevitable at this point now that HALLOWEEN has opened to Marvel-level numbers. Though Englund is certain they would need a new actor he, almost off-handedly, said he thinks he might be able to give it one last go.
“I think they want to reboot the franchise, but they’re gonna need a new actor. They’re gonna need a new actor to play Freddy because they’re gonna have to do eight of them. I might have one left in me… but yeah.”
Englund doesn’t seem all that sure he will be back for another outing, or even if he's up for doing another one if asked, and this is probably just another log on the “will they, won’t they” fire. He wasn’t willing to come back for GOLDBERGS either, that is until creator Adam Goldberg sent him a fan letter so touching Englund was swayed into donning the red and green sweater once more (via New York Post).
I’ve been very protective of the character for years … I said no to [series creator] Adam [Goldberg]. And then he sent me probably the most beautiful fan letter I ever received, telling me how much “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors” meant to him. And then I started thinking about my fans, how it dovetails with the ’80s experience and this sort of retro memory play that “The Goldbergs” is about.
Englund did throw out an interesting idea for a new NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET movie, one that would find a different actor playing the character for each victim (and one that could see him returning). “Freddy is only alive in the imagination of his future victim,” he said back in July. “They would talk about it at a slumber party or in a locker room at school, or on the bus going home. All we know about this Fred Krueger is he wears a hat, wears a red and green striped sweater and has a clawed hand.”
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Englund played Freddy starting with the very first NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET in 1984, and through until FREDDY VS. JASON in 2003. The series was indeed rebooted in 2010 with Jackie Earle Haley in the role, and although the movie made some money it was too terrible to relive, so no more outings with that iteration are on the docket, thank god. But who knows, maybe getting into the makeup again after all these years reminded Englund of how much fun he had playing Freddy, and maybe that’s enough to get him back to murdering teenagers for one last go.