He’s known as judge, jury, and executioner on the streets of Mega-City One, but to fans across the world, Karl Urban’s Dredd is nothing short of a square-jawed legend.
Back in 2012, Urban and director Pete Travis brought us a brutal and hardcore rendition of the leather-clad lawman that unfortunately fizzled out at the box office. And that’s despite strong reviews from critics and viewers alike. It’s a testimony to Travis’ direction, then, that Dredd has since gone on to become become a real cult classic, and one need only take a dive into the WGTC archives to realize that Karl Urban continues to be asked about the wider world of Mega-City One and when he may return.
But with a spinoff TV series now in the works, one that’ll go under the title Judge Dredd: Mega-City One, Urban’s performance has been thrust into the spotlight once again. Obviously, fans want to know if he’ll ever return to the role – be it in the television show or even a proper Dredd sequel – but according to the actor, everything is still up in the air.
“I really don’t know much,” Urban recently revealed to JoBlo when asked about the franchise. “I had a couple of preliminary meetings… gotta be a couple of years ago now, so it’s a long-gestating project. I’ve gone on record saying if I had the opportunity to get back in that world and explore more stories I’d be down for it. It’s crazy, it’s been a few years since that movie came out and one of the most commonly asked questions I get is, when is Dredd 2?”
So, not a very promising update, then, and as fans will know, Judge Joseph Dredd has had an unfortunate history when it comes to being adapted to live-action. The 1995 blockbuster, starring Sylvester Stallone, was a flop with critics and didn’t exactly do very well at the box office, either. 2012’s Dredd, meanwhile, was a brutally effective thriller, but as we said above, it bombed nonetheless.
While we’ve heard a few times now that Urban could have a role in Judge Dredd: Mega-City One, nothing’s been confirmed on that front just yet and for now, it seems we may be waiting a while before we get a clear picture of the property’s future and Karl Urban’s involvement in it.