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Every Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost collaboration from Spaced, to Shaun of the Dead, and beyond

Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost's collaboration on films like Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead are iconic. Here's everything they've worked on together in one comprehensive guide

A still of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in Hot Fuzz, directed by Edgar Wright — Image credit: Focus Features

Guides by Jules Chin Greene, Contributing Writer

Published on Tue Dec 10 2024

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You haven't laughed until you've watched a film featuring the talents of Edgar Wright, Nick Frost, and Simon Pegg together. Alright, maybe I exaggerated a bit there, but the truth of the matter is that the three of them have produced some of the most iconic British comedies of this century. It's tough to imagine where we would be without films like Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, and The World's End.

Recently, Nick Frost provided an open-ended response to whether or not he, Wright, and Pegg have anything planned for the future. The trio is under no stress to get back together just yet, as they're all busy working on their own projects at the moment. But never say never, when the stars align, the stars will align. With that in mind, let's take a look back at everything Edgar Wright, Nick Frost, and Simon Pegg have worked on together.

Every Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost collaboration in release order:

A still from Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead — Image credit: Focus Features

Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost are widely known for their Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy of films, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End, but their collaboration didn't begin there. The trio first collaborated on a 2-season TV show called Spaced from 1999 to 2001. Following a pair of twentysomethings stumbling their way through life, Spaced laid the groundwork for the type of humor that the trio would later hone in their Cornetto films.

How did Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost first meet?

A still from the film, The World's End, by Edgar Wright — Image credit: Focus Features

As Buzzfeed reports, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost first became friends when Pegg's then-girlfriend worked at the same Mexican restaurant as Frost in London. Pegg encouraged Frost to try stand-up comedy. The two later moved in with each other and lived as roommates for eight years. During that period, Edgar Wright had seen Pegg on television and approached him at a comedy club one night. Later on, Wright directed episodes from a series featuring Pegg called Asylum. The series did well enough that Paramount developed a series that would later become Spaced, which marked the first time that Pegg, Wright, and Frost all worked together on the same project.

Why is it called the Cornetto trilogy?

A still from the film Shaun of the Dead — Image credit: Focus Features

The Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy - that is, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End - gets its name from a couple of different places. All three films feature references to Cornetto ice cream cones. In addition, the "Three Flavours" bit is from the Three Colours trilogy of films by arthouse filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski.

Are the Cornetto trilogy films connected?

A still from Hot Fuzz featuring a Cornetto ice cream cone — Image credit: Focus Features

So that's the fun part. Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End have nothing, narratively, that ties them together. Of course, as I mentioned earlier, the films all briefly reference Cornetto ice cream cones, but that's it. It makes sense that the Cornetto films aren't tied together by a narrative thread, considering that Shaun of the Dead is a zombie apocalypse movie, while Hot Fuzz is a buddy cop film, and The World's End is a sci-fi film. Those are fairly disparate genres.

Will there be a fourth Cornetto film?

Potentially. Earlier this year, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Pegg and Wright have gotten together and spent time working on a script together over the past year. It is unclear if the script they've been writing would feature a role for Nick Frost. That said, given Frost's recent comments about being up for another film with Pegg and Wright, we can safely hope that Frost will be involved. Pegg has mentioned that the three of them are all juggling busy schedules between franchise work and beyond, so it's really a matter of when their schedules will align.

What is Shaun of the Dead a parody of?

A still from Shaun of the Dead of Simon Pegg holding a cricket bat — Image credit: Focus Features

Shaun of the Dead gets its title from George Romero's 1978 Dawn of the Dead film. Romero's film was later remade in 2004, which coincidentally is the same year that Shaun of the Dead was released. The iconography of Shaun of the Dead with Pegg's character wielding a cricket bat was intended to establish the film as a deeply British story. Before then, zombies in pop culture had been dominated by American interpretations of them.

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Jules Chin Greene: Jules Chin Greene is a journalist and Jack Kirby enthusiast. He has written about comics, video games, movies, and television for sites such as Nerdist, AIPT, Multiverse of Color, and Screen Rant.