Simon Pegg Decodes Peacock’s Prescient Cyber Thriller ‘The Undeclared War’

The Undeclared War is a high-stakes cautionary tale of cyber-attacks in the run-up to an election that feels all too real. A big reason for that is because it is the latest creation of acclaimed British writer and director Peter Kosminsky, who has spent years meticulously researching the subject.

Set in 2024, it focuses on a group of crack analysts in Britain’s GCHQ locked in an online battle to safeguard democracy. The ensemble cast boasts Hannah Khalique-Brown, Simon Pegg, and regular Kominsky collaborator Mark Rylance.

I caught up with Pegg to decode the disconcertingly prescient drama, which is now streaming on Peacock.

Simon Thompson: The Undeclared War is a cautionary tale set in 2024, which is just enough in the future so that it is very relevant for today. It’s not often you get something that takes place in that window. Was that one of the appeals?

Simon Pegg: Yeah, that interested me when I got the screenplay. When we were shooting it, we were still right in the middle of Covid, and it envisaged when the pandemic was winding down, Boris Johnson had been ousted, and here we are. It happened while we were airing the show in the UK. Undoubtedly, Peter Kosminsky has an incredibly astute view of the future.

Thompson: What does it feel like when something has been written, you’ve performed, and the reality is playing out simultaneously as the show is airing?

Pegg: It’s been interesting, not least with the invasion of Ukraine, which happened after we completed principal photography. The show does mention it, but it was done late in post-production because we had to acknowledge it because we wanted this world to feel incredibly credible. It’s kind of nailbiting because you hope that it maintains that degree of authenticity and that nothing utterly mad happens that would make it not feel like the now. As it happened, it really does.

Thompson: Some projects you look for, and others land in your lap. Which one of those was this for you? Was Peter on your wish list of people you’d like to work with?

Pegg: Yes, but it wasn’t like I asked my agents to go out and chase this specifically. I’d said I would like to do more dramatic stuff, but that was adjacent to Peter sending me the script. I think he was looking for someone sort of avuncular to play Danny, this den mother at GCHQ where you have all these prodigiously talented, young hackers. I was genuinely surprised and flattered that he had considered me for the role because Peter’s pedigree is so impressive. And I feel like when people think of me, they think of me messing about, so it was a joy to receive this. It was an immediate yes from me before I even read it because I knew it would be good. It was an absolute no-brainer when I read it, and I had to do this.

Thompson: You’ve done a lot of projects where getting facts and terms right are essential in whatever you are doing, being credible even in fantastical situations such as Star Trek or Mission: Impossible. However, this is an entirely different context. Was there much difference in that for you?

Pegg: With pure entertainment, you’re asking the audience to suspend their disbelief and, you know, buy into a world where a lot of very unlikely things happen. With this, it’s a real-world drama, so we approached it with that degree of seriousness. Peter is incredibly thorough when it comes to his character building. I got a two-page document all about Danny’s life, where he was born and grew up, and all these details about him as a person, which enabled me to channel a genuine authenticity into the performance because I felt like I had a real backstory. You don’t usually need Stanislavskian techniques when you do Star Trek or Mission: Impossible, no disrespect to those, but with this, it felt like more of a responsibility to get it right.

Thompson: I did see a parallel between Danny and Benji in Mission Impossible. Benji is obviously the cool tech side of things, and Danny is his brother who decided to listen to the careers teacher and go into government. Did you get that?

Pegg: Funnily enough, I was using some similar terminology. I remember there was a point in this show when I said about the technology at GCHQ being air gapped, and I’d actually said the phrase in a Mission: Impossible scene two months earlier. So yeah, I knew there was an odd parallel between Danny and Benji, and Danny effectively oversees the Benji’s of GCHQ. No doubt he is very adept in coding and the knowledge you need to have to be in that position of authority, but he’s much more like the guy who is straight down the line. He’s not a maverick.

Thompson: We talk about hackers and Russian troll farms, especially when it comes to social media, but seeing them illustrated in shows like this makes that more real, and this portrayal seems pretty spot on.

Pegg: The operation in our show, a Russian troll farm, is where regular people sit and argue on social media. They are very well versed in our culture, terminology, and argot and start fights and cause division. Seemingly, the end game for Putin is to destabilize everywhere else so that his own regime looks preferable to his population. That has changed slightly because he clearly has more territorial ambitions, but that seems to be how the world looks at him. They see him as a troublemaker, and all he wants to do is make himself look good, but he’s doing a very good job of it. There’s no doubt there were the influences of troll farms through Brexit, all the way through our election and the American elections, and they had an effect.

Thompson: What was it like working with Peter and breaking down the research behind this?

Pegg: He’s an awesome, creative, and the most mild-mannered, sweetest actor-friendly director I’ve ever worked with. He’s incredibly sensitive to his performers and keen to give us the most comfortable and safe environment to create. He’d come into the makeup trailer in the mornings and speak to us individually about what was coming up that day. He’d never block shoot anything. There was a day when somebody was late, and I said, ‘Why don’t we shoot this stuff this way, and then we can just pick up that actor’s stuff when they get here?’ He said, ‘No, I want you to be reacting to that actor because I want it to be real.’ I marveled at that. He put expediency behind giving the actors the best possible environment.

Thompson: Both you and Peter are British and came up through BBC, and Channel 4, so was there a kinship in the craft and what those broadcasters do? Both of those are under attack right now.

Pegg: Absolutely, particularly making a show for Channel 4 at a time when a really important independent channel is under threat from our government. We spoke about that at length. For me, you know, I started out on Channel 4 and began my career there with Spaced. Returning to Channel 4 with The Undeclared War felt like a real circularity. We both spoke about how important it is for Channel 4 to remain independent and not let the Tories get their sticky paws on it.

Thompson: In the scenes with you as Danny in the GCHQ offices, I was reminded of something else you’ve done in your career: Big Train and the Office W***ing sketch.

Pegg: Yeah (laughs). The key to the Big Train sort of comedy was that we always played it straight. We always played it with utter dramatic intent. There was never any grandstanding or winking at the camera. We weren’t doing comedy performances. The idea of Big Train was that the situation was a joke and wouldn’t be funny unless we performed it absolutely straight. Someone said to me that they saw The Undeclared War and were waiting for something funny to happen because it felt like a Big Train sketch because I was in it. That was depressing (laughs). I know exactly what you mean because many Big Train sketches took place in mundane environments. Even though GCHQ is part of the heart of British intelligence, it’s still an office space. It’s still a place where people sit at their computers and eat snacks. There is a mundanity despite the kind of work that they’re doing.

Thompson: Would you ever do Big Train? Could you get everyone back together for something like Comic Relief or an anniversary? It has been a little over 20 years since the show ended.

Pegg: It’s nearly 25 years since we made it because it was 1998. For Comic Relief? Probably, yeah, but you also got to move on.

Thompson: Finally, The Undeclared War is set in 2024. Something else that happens in 2024 is the 20th anniversary of Shaun of the Dead.

Pegg: Yeah, I know.

Thompson: Have you started having conversations about what you guys can do to celebrate that? I imagine it’s something you would want to commemorate.

Pegg: I’m sure Edgar will want to do something. Clark Collis’ book came out recently, and that was all about making it which was great. It was weird to read it because it’s strange to read about yourself in the third person. Also, it was quite a warts and all story of the making of Shaun. I really enjoyed it. I don’t know. There’ll probably be screenings. I’m sure we’ll do a big screening somewhere and have a Q&A. Edgar loves a Q&A, so we’ll probably do that.

The Undeclared War is now streaming on Peacock.