A Nightmare on Elm Street: Robert Englund Would Love to Voice Freddy Krueger in an Animated Entry

Robert Englund debuted as Freddy Krueger in 1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street and reprised his role in seven sequels, and while the actor has claimed he thinks he’s too old to reprise the role in a live-action adventure, he recently expressed his enthusiasm to voice the character in a possible animated installment of the franchise. While there are currently no official plans for the franchise to continue in any capacity, to see the series turn towards animation could offer a lower-stakes opportunity to garner interest in the franchise without fully committing to a more ambitious live-action theatrical release.

“If they did a really expensive animated version, a graphic novel animated version, I would love to go do the voice for it,” Englund revealed to SYFY WIRE. “That would be fun to do.”

Englund last played the character in a film back in 2003 with Freddy vs. Jason, which saw the character face off against Friday the 13th villain Jason Voorhees. The ambition of that film inspired various other franchises to embrace the crossover concept, with some even thinking it helped plant the seed for the current trend of cinematic universes.

The last entry in the series came in 2010 in the form of a reboot, which saw Jackie Earle Haley taking over the iconic role, though the film failed to impress audiences and is largely considered to be a massive disappointment. While that film allowed for the embrace of cutting edge visual effects, Englund noted that the industry has evolved so much since that film that a new entry could explore the horrors of the premise in all-new ways. The actor cited the achievements of Inception and how those techniques could be utilized for horrifying scenarios.

“With the new technologies in special effects, I think there are several sequences in several of the franchise [entries] that would really benefit from a remake with all of the are technology,” Englund shared. “If you remember the effects [from Inception], those effects now have grown by lightyears in terms of what they look like and I would love to see a couple of those effects used in one of the Nightmare movies to really enhance the dream landscape, the kind of nightmare world.”

The Wes Craven estate earned back the rights to the franchise last year, with various reports claiming that they were actively pursuing pitches for how to continue the series. Stay tuned for details on the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.

Would you like to see an animated installment into the series? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!