Nightmare on Elm Street's Heather Langenkamp Would "Never Say No" to Franchise Return (Exclusive)
The legacy sequel continues to be a staple for Hollywood filmmaking, especially with horror movies. Just this past week saw the debut of Halloween Ends, the conclusion of new Halloween sequels featuring the return of Jamie Lee Curtis to her iconic role. Netflix's Texas Chainsaw Massacre earlier this year had its own attempt at it all (the second such follow-up in the often rebooted franchise), plus the fifth Scream movie lampooned the idea in a big way. One franchise that has yet to get on the train just yet is Freddy Krueger and the A Nightmare on Elm Street movies, but series star Heather Langenkamp is very, very game for it to happen.
Recently Langenkamp, who played the role of Nancy Thompson in the original Wes Craven movie and a few of its sequels, recently revealed how eager she is for it to happen. ComicBook.com's Chris Killian caught up with her at this year's Son of Monsterpalooza convention, where Langenkamp reiterated that reprising her first feature film role again.
"I think I mentioned that last week, just off the cuff, and I've been saying that for so long," Langenkamp added. "People always ask me that question. Of course I would never say no to an opportunity to play Nancy again and she's the best role in the whole world. I mean it's out there, but you know, it's a very complicated thing putting a movie together and I'm kind of standing in the tall grass on the side of the road, like waiting to leap if given the chance."
After first appearing in the original 1984 A Nightmare on Elm Street, Langenkamp would reprise the part of Nancy Thompson for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, the 1987 sequel where her character actually died fighting Freddy Krueger. Langenkamp starred in a third film in the series, 1994's meta sequel Wes Craven's New Nightmare, where she starred as herself, an actress set to appear in a new A Nightmare on Elm Street sequel. After that it seems like a new legacy sequel might be a retread.
Langenkamp kickstarted the idea of A Nightmare on Elm Street legacy sequel herself, telling Entertainment Tonight that she'd "love to see a future in that," even noting how inspiring the new Halloween movies have been for her to watch. The trouble of course is that the rights to A Nightmare on Elm Street are a little complicated, so it's unclear how likely a new movie even happening could be.