Karl Urban Still Game For Judge Dredd TV Series: “The Ball’s In Their Court”

When he’s not being badgered about the embryonic Star Trek 4 – for the record, Paramount is still playing things close to the vest – you’ll likely find Karl Urban fielding questions about Judge Dredd and, specifically, the spinoff TV series coming by way of IM Global and Rebellion.

Aptly titled Judge Dredd: Mega-City One, Urban has expressed his interest in the project multiple times before, and even confirmed that he had opened talks with the Powers That Be about potentially suiting up as John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra’s square-jawed law enforcer once again.

But there’s still no sign of a deal just yet, and that’s something Urban reaffirmed to Screen Rant while talking to them about Thor: Ragnarok. Essentially, it seems the decision rests in the hands of Rebellion.

Well, Rebellion, who owns the rights to Judge Dredd, are currently developing a television series called Mega-City One, and I’ve had many discussions with them about my involvement of which I am interested, and I said to them, ‘Listen, if you write a character that has a function and a purpose and contributes to the overall story, then I might be very interested in reprising that role.’ I certainly wouldn’t want to step into it and just pay lip service to the movie. There has to be some material there that warrants further exploration of that character. So the ball’s in their court.

It’s hard to argue with Urban’s reasoning here. If the actor was to sign on for a fleeting and therefore meaningless cameo, it would distract from the story at hand. Rooted in a dark and grim dystopia, Mega-City One is set to explore the “wider world” of Wagner and Ezquerra’s jet-black source material, and producer Jason Kingsley has previously hinted that the rebooted series may involve “multi-thread storylines, one of which will be Dredd’s but others which take us into the wider world of Mega-City One.” Perhaps that’ll open up an avenue for Karl Urban to return? Time will tell.

Judge Dredd: Mega-City One is said to be targeting a premiere in the early stages of 2019, so it’ll be some time yet before we learn of Urban’s involvement – or lack thereof.