Robert Englund Says His Freddy Krueger Days Are Done
Robert Englund, the face behind the burned 80s slasher Freddy Krueger says he’s hanging up his fedora. The horror icon first played the villain in Wes Craven’s 1984 film A Nightmare on Elm Street, and came back for seven more films in the franchise. But this week he spoke with EW and says he’s “too long in the tooth” to wear the prosthetics again.
“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,” the actor told EW.
Fans of the ANOES franchise have long held out hope that Robert Englund’s Freddy would return. Especially after the 2010 reboot film failed to reinvigorate the story. But all hope is not lost, because Englund hasn’t dismissed the idea of a cameo, should the franchise resurrect itself once again.
“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 character of Dr. Elizabeth Simms, played by Elizabeth Pointer), 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 there’s kind of a tradition in the horror genre of cameos like that, so that would be fun for me. 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.”
For fans that have long supported Englund stepping back into the role, this is sure to come as a disappointment. But you can currently see Robert Englund in his new Travel Channel show True Terror with Robert Englund, which premieres March 18. You can check out the full EW article here. Be sure to follow ScaryNerd and we’ll keep you updated on all things horror!
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Oh, he’d come back for one more. Give him the chance and he’d do it.
Growing up with him, he made my childhood exciting, I was always collecting memorabilia, thanks for the ride.