'Truth Seekers' Is A Nick Frost And Simon Pegg Horror-Comedy That Takes Its Horror Seriously [Comic-Con 2020]

Friends and frequent co-stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are together again for Truth Seekers, a new horror-comedy debuting on Amazon Prime globally later this year. In honor of the impending release, Pegg, Frost, and series co-writers James Serafinowicz and Nat Saunders, took part in a Comic-Con at Home panel discussing what we can expect. They also debuted a teaser for the show, which you can watch below.

In Truth Seekers, "a team of part-time paranormal investigators who team up to uncover and film ghost sightings across the UK, sharing their adventures on an online channel for all to see. However, as they stake out haunted churches, underground bunkers and abandoned hospitals with their array of homemade ghost-detecting gizmos, their supernatural experiences grow more frequent, more terrifying and even deadly, as they begin to uncover a conspiracy that could bring about Armageddon for the entire human race."

The series hail from writers Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, James Serafinowicz, Nat Saunders, with Frost starring in the show, and Pegg appearing in a supporting role. The four creators took part in a Comic-Con 2020 panel to discuss what's in store, and the best news I heard was that the series is a horror-comedy that takes its horror seriously. More often than not, people who make horror-comedies lean too far to one side or the other, and fail to find the right balance. But Pegg and Frost are very good at finding the right way to make both genres work – see Shaun of the Dead for a prime example.

"You have to not make fun of the horror," Pegg said during the panel. "It's tempting with genre fair to parody that...but I think the key for horror-comedy is to take the horror seriously." Over and over again, the four panelists hammered home that the show, while funny, plays its horror straight. Nat Saunders described the series as a mixture of The X-Files and Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World, a British TV series that looked at unexplained phenomena from around the world. Sanders added that the horror in Truth Seekers isn't "spoofy" nor "goofy."

Frost plays Gus, a lonely guy who works at "the most boring job you could have" – installing broadband. But he uses his job as a cover to perform amateur paranormal investigations. Frost described his character as someone "lost and looking for some truth in many aspects of his life." Frost also revealed he was turned on to the paranormal by someone very close to him – someone who has since died. And now, part of his quest to find the truth about the supernatural is also about possibly making contact with this person he lost.

Pegg plays Frost's boss, the head of the broadband company, and the writer-actor vaguely hinted that his character might be secretly up to something nefarious. But don't expect another Pegg/Frost buddy picture – "I only crop up in a couple of scenes," Pegg says.

The rest of the panel was overly jovial and jokey, with Pegg saying that he and Truth Seekers co-star Malcolm McDowell bonded over the work in the Star Trek franchise (McDowell appeared in Star Trek: Generations). Pegg teased that McDowell told him a story about William Shatner, but when pressed here to share it with the group, Pegg comically refused, saying it was told to him in confidence.

Beyond that, the creators of Truth Seekers promise a show full of "oddball characters" with an "old-school horror feel." Pegg and Frost also revealed that the show rose out of their love of the supernatural – and that they themselves used to go ghost hunting many years ago, which is something I really wish they had on tape, because I'd love to see it. I'll have to make do with Truth Seekers.

Truth Seekers launches on Amazon Prime globally later this year.