As we reported a few days ago, a new TV series based on Judge Dredd and 2000AD Comics is now officially underway and everything we're seeing so far is positive.
The producers of the 2012 Dredd film - which everybody loved and nobody saw at the cinema - are heavily involved this time around, and now it's been confirmed that Karl Urban is being actively sought to reprise his role as Judge Joe Dredd. In an interview with the official 2000AD podcast, producers Jason Kingsley, Mark Stern and Brian Jenkins spoke at length about what they've got in store for the series - and how Urban fits into it all.
"We have had many conversations prior to this, about all sorts of things. He’s also very busy, a full-time professional actor. So we’re going to have some long and complicated conversations I would imagine, and we’ll see where we go," explained Jenkins. "It’s too early to tell yet, but if we can use him and he’s available to us, then I think that would be absolutely brilliant. There’s always a possibility he will be busy, or that his schedule for other movies won’t allow – basically, we don’t know at this stage."
We spoke to Urban about this very topic back in 2016 on the Star Trek Beyond press junket, and his response was somewhat guarded. "There's a lot of people who want to see a sequel to that," said Urban, but then cautioned that he wouldn't "do it just for the sake of doing it, there'd need to be a compelling reason to do it."
Looking at iMDB, Urban has five films in post-production - including Thor: Ragnarok, where he'll play Skurge - so it's reasonable to assume he's going to have a full plate for the time being. That said, he really was incredible in the role of Dredd and certainly was the closest in line with the comics - so the producers really should do everything they can to get him on board.
Here's hoping it all comes together. No release date has been set on Judge Dredd: Mega-City One.