Robert Englund Is Done With Freddy Krueger, But Has Ideas For Reboot And Who Should Play Him

Robert Englund has closed the book on playing Freddy Krueger, the BBQ-faced, bladed-gloves-wearing boogeyman and every teenager’s worst nightmare.

Speaking to Variety ahead of the June 6 release of his biographical documentary Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story, Englund said, “I’m too old and thick to play Freddy now. I just can’t do fight scenes for more than one take anymore, I’ve got a bad neck and bad back and arthritis in my right wrist. So I have to hang it up, but I would love to cameo.” (June 6 happens to be Englund’s 75th birthday.)

Englund first played Freddy in 1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street. The Wes Craven-helmed movie — which also marked the debut of Johnny Depp, as one of Freddy’s victims — spawned six sequels and one TV show. His last feature as Freddy was 2003’s Freddy vs Jason, where he faced off Friday the 13th’s machete-wielding Jason Voorhees.

In 2018, Englund reprised Freddy for an episode of the 1980s-set sitcom The Goldbergs — in a dream sequence. But of course.

A Nightmare on Elm Street was reimagined in 2010 with Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy. While the Michael Bay-produced remake was a hit, it was shredded by fans and the franchise has laid dormant ever since.

“Jackie’s just so good, a wonderful actor, so I don’t think it was that,” said Englund. “I’ve always thought that Freddy is described as a child killer. So when they made Freddy a child molester [in the remake], that’s not what Freddy is, I don’t think. By taking it to such a dark, dark place, there’s no room for the personality of Freddy to be exploited.”

But if Freddy gets revived again (rumour has it that Jason Blum is trying to get hold of the rights), Englund has the perfect idea.

“You’d have to deal with technology and culture,” he pitched. “For instance, if one of the girls was an influencer, it would be interesting for Freddy to somehow haunt her subconscious and manifest himself, perhaps exploit everybody that followed her.”

And he thinks Kevin Bacon would make a great Freddy. “I know he respects the genre, and he’s such a fine physical actor,” he said. “I think that in the silences and in the way Kevin moves — it would be interesting.”

Post-Nightmare, Englund is a mainstay in the horror genre. He recently appeared in Season 4 of Stranger Things, which interestingly centres around a dream-invading monster not unlike Freddy.

In the Variety piece, Englund also weighed in on his status as a horror movie icon.

“I know who icons are,” the classically-trained actor said. “I’m not an icon. Maybe Freddy Krueger is, but I’m not. I’m just a character actor, a utility actor who’s been very lucky.”

In a 2010 interview with 8days, Englund said he doesn't resent being known as a horror actor.

“Freddy gave me the opportunity to be a leading man and afforded me an international career, instead of being a busy character actor," he mused. "I am an actor-for-hire and I go where I am wanted.”

He also told 8days that if there was one overlooked movie he made that isn’t horror, it was 1976’s Stay Hungry, with Jeff Bridges and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Photos: TPG News/Click Photos

Watch exclusive 8Days interviews on meWATCH and Mediacorp YouTube Channel.