Robert Englund Shares His Idea on How to Reboot A Nightmare on Elm Street

With other slasher movie franchises getting revived these days, from Scream and Halloween making a mark in movie theaters to Friday the 13th getting a new prequel series in development at Peacock, is the time right for the return of A Nightmare on Elm Street? As of now, there’s nothing official that’s in the works, but it might just be a matter of time before the hit horror movie series is revived in one way or another. However, we can presume that the next reboot won’t feature Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger, given how the actor has said he’s “too old” to convincingly play that role any longer.

With that said, Englund isn’t opposed to seeing the franchise continue. In a new interview with ComicBook.com, the actor even pitched his idea on how to next reboot the series. Given how much fans adore the third installment of the franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Englund thinks that doing a reboot that’s based more on that movie than the original could be the way to go. What’s more, Englund even has a character in mind for who he’d like to play in the potential movie, still hopeful to be involved even if he’s not playing Freddy.

From the interview:

“I certainly think that they should reboot [A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors], because 3 has a ‘previously on Nightmare on Elm Street‘ sense to it, and it reunites everybody, and it is the fan favorite. I think if you took a poll or a vote, you’d find out more people like Dream Warriors than any other film. And it’s a good script. The original script for that is terrific, and if you look at who wrote it, those people have Oscars now. And then I would love to do a cameo in it, maybe switch genders and play the Priscilla Pointer, Amy Irving’s mother’s role, the skeptical, cynical therapist who doesn’t believe they’re all having a common dream, a dream in common, a nightmare, a collective nightmare. I think that would be fun, a nice wink at the audience. It’s traditional in a remake to bring somebody back from the original.”

Related: Robert Englund Still Rooting for Kevin Bacon to Play the Next Freddy Krueger

Robert Englund Thinks Rebooting Freddy’s Revenge Is Another Option

Englund also says he’s thought about a new film that reimagines A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. The actor would like to see a talented director take another crack at that story, further exploring the concept of Freddy taking advantage of a young man confused about his sexuality. As Englund would explain:

“I would love to see a sensitive, contemporary director, independent, Spirit Award-winning director or somebody reboot [Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge] and really explore Freddy’s manipulation of the boy in that and the boy’s burgeoning bisexuality. I think today, we could do that. We could deal with that and what’s going on there and play with the psychology of it and Freddy’s manipulation of that and really make that heroic. I think that would be interesting to do. I think we’re ready for that.”

In any case, Englund is clearly on board for A Nightmare on Elm Street being reimagined, and given how the 2010 reboot was heavily panned, it may be worth listening to his advice by basing the new reboot on one of the other movies in the franchise.