What a nightmare! Robert Englund says he's too old to play Freddy Krueger again

The iconic horror villain Freddy Krueger is responsible for countless sleeplessness nights and has been since the release of Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984. The man who brought him to life, actor Robert Englund, says he's done as the murderous dream invader. Say it isn't so!

In an interview with EW, Englund says he's simply getting too old to wear the make-up. "I don’t think I’ll ever don the makeup again. I’m a little too old for that. I’m a little long in the tooth to play Freddy now. I think if I was doing it, it would be more like Freddy vs. Viagra.”

The 72-year-old Englund played the role of Freddy in seven films, most recently in the 2003 film Freddy vs. Jason. All hope isn't totally lost, as the actor hinted that he'd be up for playing a smaller role in a reboot, “I would love to be invited back if they decide to reboot A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3: The Dream Warriors."

He added, "I would love to come back and maybe play the dream analyst (the character of Dr. Elizabeth Simms, played by Elizabeth Pointer), the woman in the therapy sessions who doesn’t believe that there can be such a thing as a collective nightmare that’s common to a group of people. I think it would be fun for the fans, it would be fun for me to play the part originally played by a woman and do a flip on that. I think there’s kind of a tradition in the horror genre of cameos like that, so that would be fun for me."

Nightmare on Elm Street was written and directed by horror icon Wes Craven. The film helped launch numerous actors' careers (like Johnny Depp's), five sequels and helped define the slasher genre. There have been rumblings of a new Nightmare possibly on the horizon in the coming years, though nothing solid at this point.

Regardless, we're sad to hear Englund say he'll never don the knife-gloves again, but we will keep our fingers crossed that we'll see him again in Freddy's future — just not in our dreams, please!