Get ready to meet an all-new iteration of Freddy Krueger, again. Just six years after New Line Cinema rebooted Wes Craven’s classic horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street the first time, news has come down the pike that they’re planning on rebooting the seminal horror movie once more.

According to sources, David Leslie Johnson, the writer behind the recent horror flick The Orphan is, is set to write the screenplay. Jackie Earle Haley, who played Freddy in the reboot, isn’t expected to return, as the studio is looking for a “younger actor.” Although shouldn’t Freddy be kind of old?

The original A Nightmare on Elm Street from Wes Craven was a true cultural phenomenon, spawning six sequels within ten years and a Freddy vs. Jason crossover film. It helped turn New Line Cinema from a very small studio into a major Hollywood player, eventually getting bought by Warner Bros. and producing huge franchises like Austin Powers and Lord of the Rings. But none of that would have happened without the success of the Elm Street films, and internally at New Line, the company was often referred to as “the house that Freddy built.”

The 2009 Nightmare remake was the definition of a soulless affair, a glitzy, glossy cash-in that lacked all the grit of the original film, and starred a group of generic twenty-somethings as the teenagers, who are all perfectly beautiful and look like models this time around. The main story of the original movie, about the sins of the parents revisiting upon their children, was all but forgotten. The parents were merely side-notes to the main action. Jackie Earle Haley’s version of Freddy Krueger was also forgettable and lacked personality. The movie opened well at the box office, but quickly died, not having clicked with audiences.

I’m not entirely sure what New Line could do to fix this franchise, aside from getting Robert Englund back in the make-up and bringing Freddy back the proper way. Sure he’s 68, but under all that make-up, who can tell? And his older, more gravely voice would be even better now for Freddy. Get Wes Craven involved in some capacity too (his seventh installment in the original series, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, was way ahead of its time and underrated).  Older more savvy audiences who grew up with the originals might came back if the original creative team returns, and younger millennials probably could care less who’s playing Freddy, they just want to see a good horror flick. After all, if Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi can come back after all these years for Ash vs. the Evil Dead, then anything is possible.

Are you excited for yet another new Freddy Krueger, or should this franchise be left in the past? Let us know in the comments!

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HT: The Wrap