The 2010 remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street fell short with fans upon release, failing to reach the levels of success as the original film, which starred Robert Englund. While there were tentative plans for Jackie Earle Haley to return as his version of Freddy Krueger in potential sequels, that was all scrapped when the movie was shredded with bad reviews from critics and filmgoers alike. The franchise has been dormant ever since, remaining unclear if and when there will ever be a new Nightmare on Elm Street movie.
RELATED: Robert Englund Reveals His Favorite Freddy Krueger One-Liners
In a new interview with Variety, the original Freddy actor commented on the panned 2010 reboot, sharing his theory on what went wrong with the film. He gave credit to Haley, suggesting that introducing a new actor as Freddy Krueger wasn’t the problem. Englund believes that the biggest effect on the reception was how Haley’s Freddy was revealed in the movie to have sexually abused children, while he was only referred to as a murderer in the original film.
As Robert Englund explains:
“Jackie’s just so good, a wonderful actor, so I don’t think it was that. I’ve always thought that Freddy is described as a child killer. So when they made Freddy a child molester [in the remake], that’s not what Freddy is, I don’t think. By taking it to such a dark, dark place, there’s no room for the personality of Freddy to be exploited.”
Englund also said in the Variety interview that he’s “too old and too thick” to convincingly play Freddy himself in any more Elm Street films. With that said, he’s hoping to cameo as another character as a way of paying homage to his original Freddy. As of now, however, there are no Nightmare on Elm Street projects currently in development.
