Robert Englund Not Interested in Playing Freddy Krueger Again

Throughout his decades-long career, Robert Englund‘s most famous role is that of Freddy Krueger in eight different A Nightmare on Elm Street films. It’s been seven years since we’ve seen a new film in the series, but the actor revealed to Entertainment Weekly that he’s no longer interested in playing the character he helped become an icon of horror.

“I’m too old to do another Freddy now,” Englund shared. “If I do a fight scene now it’s got to be real minimal because I can’t snap my head for eight different takes and different angles. My spine gets sore. I can still be mean and scary, but I’m mostly relegated now to sort of Van Helsing roles, old doctors and sh*t. So it’s fun that the last moment of me ever playing Freddy is a wink to the audience.”

The actor last played the role in 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason, with Jackie Earle Haley taking on the character for a 2010 remake of the original film. Englund might no longer portray the villain in films, but he has worn the makeup and prosthetics for special photo opportunities at various conventions throughout the country.

“It’s like, I had a good run, I had a good time,” Englund admitted. “And no one plans for this in your career. When I was wearing tights and doing Shakespeare, I didn’t say I wanted to be famous for playing this boogeyman. Careers happen and one of the pieces of advice I give to people is I’m sure you’ll do a great pilot or you’ll do a little independent art movie and it won’t go anywhere and then you might do your Intern No. 3 on Grey’s Anatomy and that’s the one that becomes the huge hit. People just don’t know. And when you’ve survived as long as I have and you see that, you can be real happy that you got 20 years as Freddy Krueger, you know?”

While there are no plans currently for a new installment in the franchise, the actor has recently shared that he supports Kevin Bacon portraying the character, one of the names that has circulated in recent years.

“Kevin was inFriday the 13th,” Englund explained to PopCulture.com. “I know way down deep, Kevin has a respect for horror. He’s not one of those guys that goes on the talk show and says, ‘This isn’t a horror movie. It’s a psychological drama.’ You know? There’s a lot of people that still put down the genre.”

Englund can next be seen in Nightworld, which hits select theaters and VOD on October 20.

[H/T Entertainment Weekly]