Don't Expect a 'Shaun of the Dead' Sequel, Says Edgar Wright

Zombies often come back from the dead, but that won’t be the case for Shaun of the Dead. Edgar Wright’s cult classic celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, yet the director has no plans to revisit the story.

While promoting his new film The Running Man, Wright told Polygon that neither he nor his longtime collaborator Simon Pegg feels there is energy left for more Shaun adventures. He explained:

“A lot of sequels don’t really earn their keep because all the story has been told in the first movie. […] Shaun goes from being a kind of sad sack to being a hero by the end of the movie. So it’s very difficult to start the next movie when there’s no obvious arc.”

Wright is generally not drawn to sequels—his closest examples are the Cornetto trilogy and possibly Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. In contrast, the zombie genre frequently spawns follow-ups. For instance, The Walking Dead has multiple spinoffs and sequels, while Zombieland, often compared to Shaun of the Dead, expanded into a franchise with a sequel film and a TV series in 2019.

Decades-later sequels are increasingly common, especially from Disney, but Wright remains focused on original projects.

Summary: Edgar Wright rules out a sequel to Shaun of the Dead, emphasizing the story’s completion and his preference for fresh narratives over revisiting past successes.

Gizmodo — 2025-11-03

Don't Expect a 'Shaun of the Dead' Sequel, Says Edgar Wright

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