Simon Pegg is returning to screens later this month in the long-awaited second season of his 2022 thriller series, The Undeclared War. The actor is no stranger to going the extra mile for a role, undergoing a dramatic six-month physical transformation back in 2019 for the film Inheritance.
Seven years later, the actor has maintained a fitness regime to stay in shape, which he’s revealed includes daily 10km runs, circuits and strength workouts during intense training periods. In a new interview with The Sunday Times, Simon explained that he enjoys working out “because it gets endorphins flowing and gives me a routine.”
“I’m just not one for going to seed,” he told the publication.
“The guys that were 56 when I was a kid seemed like my [expletive] grandad, and I just want to live for a long time. Because, you know what? I like life.”
Dramatic transformation
Simon lost 19lbs in six months to get into shape for his 2020 film Inheritance, in which he played a man who had been captive in an underground bunker for three decades. The actor’s personal trainer, Nick Lower, revealed the star had to look “lean, VERY lean” for the role, and to do so, committed to a nutrition plan and workout regime that took him from 12 per cent body fat to eight per cent.
The trainer shared in a March 2019 social media post that Simon’s fitness routine focused on strength training, circuits, core and long trail runs.
© Instagram/ nicklowercoachAfter a photo of his new physique prompted a mixed response from fans, Simon told GQ Hype the reaction was “weird”.
“Some people said, ‘You look ill,’ which is what my wife thought. Others were saying, ‘Well done’,” he recalled. “And the thing is, it wasn’t meant to be an aspirational thing. It was a snapshot that my trainer took and I really didn’t expect the furore that followed. All I can think of is that people still think of me as that schlubby guy from Shaun Of The Dead.”
The role that taught him a health lesson
Simon recently credited his role in the 2006 action flick, Mission: Impossible III, for teaching him “the joys of being well”.
© Getty ImagesThe star played technician Benji Dunn in the Tom Cruise franchise instalment. Speaking to Page Six earlier this month at the Disclosure Day premiere, Simon explained he “had to play a secret agent, so I kind of had to look like one and then I realised it was actually a lot of fun to look after yourself, like you might as well give yourself the best chance you can.”
After his Mission Impossible stint, Simon returned to the action genre with films like Hot Fuzz and Star Trek in 2009. He reprised his role as secret agent Benji in the 2025 Mission Impossible film, Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning.
He returns as Danny Patrick, the Chief of Operations at GCHQ, in the second season of The Undeclared War which premieres on Channel 4 on 21 July.
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