Edgar Wright Explains Why U.S. TV Remake of Shaun of the Dead Never Happened
Edgar Wright doesn't want a Shaun of the Dead adaptation. 'Nuff said.
Fans have longed for a follow-up to Shaun of the Dead for quite some time, even though those involved in the project want to see the franchise remain at a single film. At one point, according to helmer Edgar Wright, there were even talks to turn the zombie comedy into a television series here in the United States. Wright, however, didn't want to see the film adapted into something else.
"There have been some conversations about that, yes. We've been quite protective about that," Wright said on the latest episode of Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast. "A long time ago, an American company wanted to do a TV series of 'Shaun of the Dead,' based on the film. We were like, 'No!'. Sometimes when these things come up, we take them very seriously. And some things are things we are still talking about."
Shaun of the Dead lead Simon Pegg has often been asked about a potential sequel to the 2004 release, and the actor typically tosses cold water on any such notion.
"If I ever do an Instagram Live or whatever, people are always like, 'I need Shaun of the Dead 2 in my life,'" Pegg recalled to The Guardian earlier this summer. "And I'm like, 'No, you don't f-cking need Shaun of the Dead 2! The last thing you need is Shaun of the Dead 2! It's done. Move on!'"
In a separate interview, Pegg revealed why he and Wright tend not to do sequels to their films.
"I'd love to play Gary King again from The World's End because I really, really loved playing that character," Pegg revealed to /Film last year. "Edgar and I tend not to dwell on the past. We don't do sequels to our movies because we just always want to keep things moving, do different things. And people always ask us about sequels, and we always say no. I think that will always be the case, but in an imaginary kind of scenario where we did do a sequel, I would definitely do a kind of post-apocalyptic World's End sequel with Gary off in the wilderness with his blank friends fighting."
Shaun of the Dead is now streaming on Hulu.
