The world of horror would have been a significantly darker one (and not in a good way) without the contributions of the late, great Wes Craven. Indeed, with the Scream franchise still going strong as recently as a few weeks ago and A Nightmare on Elm Street still steadfast in its place among the horror greats, there’s no detracting from the world of Craven.
We only wish that A Nightmare on Elm Street had managed to find its franchise feet just as well as Scream has. Where the latter hardly has any misfires across its six films, the former has had a much rockier lifespan. For every Dream Warriors and New Nightmare, there’s a 2010 reboot or The Final Nightmare.
Nevertheless, the love for Freddy Krueger prevails, and with a reboot of the franchise currently in the pipeline of Wes Craven’s estate, we can only hope that we’re gifted a new favorite nightmare in the coming years.
This brings us to the question of Robert Englund, the talent behind the original burnt-faced, knife-fingered maniac, and who could possibly fill his legendary shoes once he hangs up the fedora for good. Luckily, the folks of r/horror seem to have a section in their collective filing cabinet specifically for such a question.
The classic answer of Richard Brake came up almost immediately. With a horror portfolio such as his, he’d slot into the role without a hitch.
One user went completely off the chain by suggesting that everyone could play Freddy all at once, and honestly, we’re here for this pitch.
And a few other responders stuck their necks out for the possibility of Bilbo Stabbins.
It will be no easy task to digest an Elm Street story without Robert Englund’s screen presence (and we all know this from experience), but that’s not to say that another favorable flavor of Freddy doesn’t exist somewhere in the world. For all we know, Englund will have met his match a decade from now.
