Robert Englund Talks the Future of ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ & Who Should Play Freddy Next [Interview]

Robert Englund has made it clear that he’s done playing Freddy Krueger, but as the man behind the horror icon for so many years, he shares valuable opinions about the future of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.

“I think if they were gonna reboot it, they should probably start with [A Nightmare on Elm Street 3] Dream Warriors, because it has that great opening that’s sort of like ‘Previously on Nightmare on Elm Street,’” Englund tells Bloody Disgusting.

“I don’t know if they should ever reboot Part 1 again. They could do it as a prequel, like Tobe Hooper did on the series [“Freddy’s Nightmares”]. Really do a backstory before, so you have the story of Nancy and Tina and Glen and everything going on, but you start even before that. That’s what I would do,” he says.

“There’s plenty of directors out there that I think could really, really do some interesting work with the Nightmare on Elm Street motif,” Englund adds.

“I think, for the sake of the franchise, they need to find someone like a Doug Jones,” referring to the actor known for his creature performances in the likes of The Shape of Water, Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, Hocus Pocus, and “What We Do in the Shadows.”

“Years ago, I heard they were considering Kevin Bacon for Freddy Krueger. Kevin’s in a couple of my favorite horror movies; Stir of Echoes I love, and Tremors obviously. I love Kevin as an actor,” Englund notes.

“He’s a true character actor, he just happens to be imprisoned in a leading man’s body, but Kevin is also very physical. I thought that was a great choice, but this was, like, five years ago. I know he’s got all these other projects now and he’s not getting any younger, so he probably wouldn’t be interested,” Englund postulates.

“I was trying to think of someone like that, if he were going to look for a name, like Kevin Bacon. But I think they probably should steer themselves to someone more unknown that doesn’t have to worry about following in my footsteps or anything else, just creating his own conception of the character.”

Englund continues, “I think that it would be interesting to maybe redefine Freddy differently than my physicality and my size; a lumbering tall man, perhaps, or someone wiry and shorter than me, and maybe more cat-like or reptilian. It would be interesting. They gotta pick somebody that can go the distance.”

Englund is excited for fans to experience the new 4K restorations of all seven original films.

“They’ve got so much great post-production technology now. It must have just been really exhilarating for Rachel Talalay and Jack Sholder and Chuck Russell and Renny Harlin and everybody to get to go in there and really clean them up and make stuff look exactly the way they had imagined it when they were shooting it.”

Englund continues, “Everybody’s got a decent-sized flat screen, and you pop these on, and it’s just so rich and wonderful. I’m just happy for everybody that they have an opportunity now to see it the way that those creatives wanted it to be in their mind’s eye.”

Englund cites Wes Craven’s New Nightmare as his favorite installment in the franchise to make, while Freddy vs. Jason is his favorite one to watch.

When asked about his favorite Freddy look, Englund recalls the special effects artists with ease. “I like the makeup for Part 2, Kevin Yeager’s, but I also love the demon makeup in Freddy vs. Jason by Bill Terezakis.”

For his favorite kill, England mentions a classic and a deep cut. “I love Tina on the ceiling in Part 1. That’s a piece of film history in and of itself. But I also like the boy with the hearing aid in Part 6.”

Finally, Englund recites his favorite Freddy line. “Well, it used to be the classic ‘Welcome to prime time, bitch’ [from Dream Warriors], but recently I like, ‘Don’t worry, princess. The first time tends to get a little messy’ [from Freddy vs. Jason] because that’s about as nasty as you can get.”

A Nightmare on Elm Street: 7-Film Collection is now available on 4K UHD.