A Nightmare on Elm Street: Kevin Bacon Reacts to Robert Englund Endorsing Him as the New Freddy Krueger

Robert Englund helped define the villainous Freddy Krueger in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series, with the 2010 reboot being the only time Englund stepped back from the series, though Kevin Bacon recently shared that he'd potentially be open to taking on the role for a new film, as Englund has shared on multiple occasions that he could see the actor embracing the role effectively. There are currently no confirmed plans for the franchise's future, with it being possible we could get a continuation of the original narrative or possibly another reboot, though creator Wes Craven's estate is reportedly hearing from filmmakers about their concepts for the series.

"Sure," Bacon joked when Bloody Disgusting asked if he would be interested in the opportunity. "It would take a lot of makeup."

Englund last played Krueger in 2003's Freddy vs. Jason, but with that film being his eighth film as the figure, he is intrinsically linked with the murderer. Due to Englund's popularity in the horror community, thanks to his A Nightmare on Elm Street roles and many others, he regularly attends horror conventions and has publicly shared at those events that he thinks Bacon would be a good choice for Krueger.

"He's not a kid anymore either but the rumor I've heard that I like is Kevin Bacon," Englund admitted at the Monster Mania convention last summer. "Kevin loves horror. He's a real actor. He's a character actor. Kevin was great in Tremors. Kevin was great in Stir of Echoes. And I've heard this rumor. We need someone like that to take it on. And re-do it, exploiting all of the new technology."

Whatever direction the Craven estate takes, whether they attempt to enlist Bacon or go an entirely different direction, Englund noted that he trusts their decisions with the series.

"Their choice is whether to go with completely original stuff or whether to reboot the franchise for another generation," Englund shared with ComicBook.com earlier this year. "That's the decision, I think it all lies now with the Craven estate, all the rights have returned to them. And I know that both Wes' son Jonathan and his daughter [Jessica], they're really smart, talented people and they work in the industry, so I totally trust what they're gonna do. I just know that there are some terrific scripts over the last, let's say 15 years, there's been some really interesting scripts and they're sitting on a shelf somewhere gathering dust. And I just hope that they read all of those, as well as the new ones, because a couple of those old ones were really interesting. There's one or two prequel scripts that are pretty interesting."

Stay tuned for details on the future of the A Nightmare on Elm Street series.

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