Beginning with A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET in 1984, Robert Englund has played Freddy Krueger in seven sequels, the last being 2003's FREDDY VS. JASON, and while the franchise was rebooted a decade ago with Jackie Earle Haley taking on the role, Englund had left the door open by saying that he might have one more left in him. Those of you who were holding onto that kernel of possibility will likely be disappointed to learn that Englund seems to have hung up his metal gloves for good.
While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Robert Englund revealed, "I don’t think I’ll ever don the makeup again. I’m a little too old for that. I’m a little long in the tooth to play Freddy now. I think if I was doing it, it would be more like Freddy vs. Viagra." That said, Englund would be open to taking on a different role in the rebooted franchise.
I know that the rights to A Nightmare on Elm Street have gone back to the Wes Craven family estate. And I know they’ve looked at a lot of different submissions and ideas. I’m hoping they’re open-minded, because there’s a lot of young screenwriters and wannabe director-screenwriters that have been kind of obsessed with the horror genre and have some interesting ideas. I would love to be invited back if they decide to reboot A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3: The Dream Warriors. I would love to come back and maybe play the dream analyst, the woman in the therapy sessions who doesn’t believe that there can be such a thing as a collective nightmare that’s common to a group of people. I think it would be fun for the fans, it would be fun for me to play the part originally played by a woman and do a flip on that.
"I think there’s kind of a tradition in the horror genre of cameos like that, so that would be fun for me," Englund added. "But I have no idea whether they’re going to go on and create completely new stories or whether they’re going to go back and do prequels or origin stories on the Freddy Krueger myth. I don’t know what they’re up to. So, I’m just waiting to hear." As Robert Englund stated, the rights to A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET have returned to the Wes Craven estate, and last we heard, they were taking pitches for a new film.
Chances are good that we'll be getting a new version of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET before too long, would you like to see Robert Englund make a cameo?