Robert Englund Won’t “Lose Sleep” Over a New Actor Playing Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street

It’s been 17 years since audiences have seen Robert Englund play Freddy Krueger in an A Nightmare on Elm Street movie, and whatever the Wes Craven estate decides to pursue with the series, the actor won’t be personally disappointed if he isn’t consulted for such a project. The actor himself has said on numerous occasions that he thinks he’s too old to embrace the physical nature of the role, but with original Candyman star Tony Todd expressing disappointment when a remake of that series was announced and he wasn’t consulted, Englund doesn’t share that connection is own horror series. Todd has since confirmed that he does, in fact, make an appearance in the new Candyman.

“I’m not gonna lose any sleep over not being Freddy anymore because I’m just too old for the part,” Englund shared with ComicBook.com. “I couldn’t face the makeup for six weeks or eight weeks. I couldn’t do the stunts. I’m just getting older now. They’re gonna need a new actor to play it. And, again, even more than the new actor to play Freddy, I just think that they need to really explore all the new technology for really ramping up the nightmare sequences using all the new technology that they have at their disposal for effects.”

The last film in the series was the 2010 reboot, which saw Jackie Earle Haley playing the iconic villain, though that film was largely a financial and critical disappointment. While Englund “totally trusts” whatever avenue the Wes Craven estate decides to pursue, he would still enjoy making a cameo appearance in a new installment.

“I would like to be, perhaps, invited back to do a cameo,” the actor pointed out. “I was thinking maybe like Nightmare on Elm Street 3, if they ever get around to rebooting that episode of the franchise, the Dream Warriors, I think it would be fun for me to cameo, maybe, as the dream therapist.”

He added, “I think it would be fun to switch the gender, let me play as the sort of skeptical therapist who doesn’t believe there could be a collective nightmare where everybody is dreaming of the same old guy in a red and green sweater and a fedora with a claw hand made out of a garden glove and fish knives. I think it would be fun. There’s a tradition in horror movies and in remakes in bringing someone from the original back to cameo in them and I think that would be kind of fun to do.”

As we wait for news on an upcoming entry into the series, Robert Englund fans can see him in their homes every week on Travel Channel’s True Terror with Robert Englund, Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET.

What do you think of the actor’s remarks? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!