Update: Karl Urban Tells Us What It’d Take To Play Dredd Again
Karl Urban may reprise the role of Judge Joseph Dredd in the recently-announced Judge Dredd: Mega-City One TV series. Urban played the futuristic super cop in 2012’s Dredd, which despite a poor showing at box office has earned a serious cult following and a fanbase desperate for a sequel. This has been discussed in many forms – most recently an animated follow-up – but despite Urban and others involved refusing to rule it out nothing concrete has come to pass.
However, audiences will get to go back to Cursed Earth regardless in the form of TV show Mega-City One. Per the original announcement, it wasn’t clear whether Urban would return or whether this was a totally separate venture, although new comments from the producer suggest that hasn’t been decided yet.
Speaking to The 2000 AD Thrill-Cast, the comic publisher’s official podcast, producer Brian Jenkins discussed the show and addressed Urban’s involvement, saying it was a possibility and dependent on schedules:
“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. 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.”
This makes it seem that the canonical status of the show is unclear, with the default being that it’s the TV sequel fans once petitioned for and a separate entity should the star not be contracted. This will be undoubtedly amazing news for fans of Dredd as it definitely hints at Urban’s return as the desired outcome.
Jenkins is right when he says Urban has a very busy schedule – he’s next set to appear in Thor: Ragnarok as Skurge and has a handful of smaller roles on the way, as well as contractual obligations to Star Trek where he plays Bones. That said, given how clear the actor’s enthusiasm has been he’s sure to try and find a way to appear if possible.
If Urban doesn’t reprise the role, that would make Mega-City One the third live-action iteration of the character – he was also adapted for the ill-fated 1995 Judge Dredd starring a mask-less Sylvester Stallone. This would presumably lead to a recast, one that will be the subject of much debate going forward. For now, we’ll keep you posted on all details about Judge Dredd: Mega City One as they come in, casting or otherwise.
