Edgar Wright on why you won’t get a direct sequel to Shaun of the Dead

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in Shaun of the Dead

(Image credit: Universal)

Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright has revealed why there won't be a direct sequel to the hit 2004 movie.

"I haven’t gone back to horror-comedy, because with Shaun Of The Dead I felt like I had said much of what I wanted to say with that movie," he tells SFX Magazine. "It’s difficult to return to that, even as a producer. Sometimes I get sent films – people want to make the next Shaun and want me to come aboard as a producer. But I find it difficult to cover the same territory again."

Two more movies directed by Wright did follow Shaun of the Dead in the Cornetto trilogy – 2007's Hot Fuzz and 2013's The World's End, but these formed an anthology series rather than direct sequels.

Wright adds: "The thing is that films take so long to make. I think that’s the thing that fans don’t quite understand sometimes. They’ll say, 'Why don’t you knock out a Shaun sequel?' It’s like, these films take three years to make, you’ve got to really, really love it to do it. So because films take longer to make, trying to challenge yourself with a different subject matter or something you haven’t done before, it’s always the real motivator."

Although the director seems reluctant to return to horror-comedy, his next movie is a horror flick – Last Night in Soho, which stars Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Matt Smith, arrives in theaters on October 29.

For much more on Last Night in Soho and from Wright, make sure to buy the new issue of SFX Magazine featuring our huge Halloween preview, available from October 6 on newsstands – while subscriber copies are on the way now. Last Night in Soho is in cinemas from October 29.

I'm the Editor of SFX, the world's number one sci-fi, fantasy and horror magazine – available digitally and in print every four weeks since 1995. I've been editing magazines, and writing for numerous publications since before the Time War. Obviously SFX is the best one. I knew being a geek would work out fine.