Edgar Wright on Spaced’s Near Misses and Cult Legacy
Edgar Wright looks back at Spaced, recalling moments when the show nearly lost its way, especially during the infamous Matrix episode, and reflects on its enduring influence on his filmmaking.
If you’ve yet to catch Edgar Wright’s take on The Running Man, don’t let the less-than-glowing reviews put you off. It’s well worth seeking out on the largest screen you can find, offering a blend of sharp comic-book action, self-aware humour, and affectionate nods to the 1980s original. Even Glen Powell, whose performance in Twisters nearly put me off films altogether, delivers a surprisingly strong turn. There’s a standout sequence set to a Rolling Stones track from Goat’s Head Soup—one of the most stylish set pieces in recent memory, rivalled only by Wright’s own bank heist opener in Baby Driver set to the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
Wright’s films have become reliably distinctive: you know you’re in for a couple of hours of escapism, clever references, genuine laughs, and a soundtrack packed with absolute gems. It’s a formula he’s honed over years, beginning in the late 1990s with Spaced, the cult Channel 4 sitcom he co-created with Simon Pegg. Across just 14 episodes, and with Nick Frost joining the cast, they crafted a series brimming with video game nods, eccentric characters, surreal escapades, and a particularly oddball artist neighbour named Brian. It felt tailor-made for students, and unsurprisingly, it became a word-of-mouth sensation.
Blueprint for a Distinctive Style
Spaced laid the groundwork for Wright’s later comedies, with its rapid-fire editing, love of 1980s action, and a soundtrack featuring the likes of the Chemical Brothers, Nightmares on Wax, and Coldcut. The show’s influence is clear in his subsequent films, from the quick montages to the playful genre homages.
Yet, even with only two series, there were moments that Wright now views with a touch of embarrassment. Reflecting on the show, he admitted to The AV Club:
“There were moments in the second season where if we didn’t jump the shark, we came very close.”
Flirting with the Shark
For those unfamiliar, ‘jumping the shark’ refers to the point when a series runs out of steam and resorts to increasingly outlandish stunts—like the Fonz literally leaping over a shark in Happy Days—to keep viewers interested.
Wright continued:
“I think looking back, we’re faintly embarrassed by the Matrix episode. Even though there’s loads of good jokes in that one. I think at the time, we thought The Matrix was as cool as we thought Star Wars was during the first season. It was very funny timing that the first and second series landed on either side of The Phantom Menace. It’s kind of amusing.”
From Obsession to Influence
Both Pegg and Wright were, by their own admission, obsessed with Star Wars. Pegg even wrote his university thesis on the George Lucas saga. Little did he know that the success of Spaced and the later Cornetto trilogy would eventually lead him to appear in The Force Awakens in 2015, as well as contribute to the script for director JJ Abrams.