‘Judge Dredd: Mega-City One’ Producer Wants Karl Urban Back

The announcement of a potential Judge Dredd: Mega-City One TV series dashed hopes that Karl Urban would finally get that Dredd sequel, but should it? According to one Mega-City producer, “we are going to have some long and complicated conversations” about Urban’s return.

It was last week we learned that IM Global and UK game developer Rebellion were working on a new live-action Judge Dredd series, though the as-yet-unattached “ensemble drama” had no real cast to speak of. It’d probably seem too much for Urban to reprise his role from Alex Garland’s 2012 film, but Mega-City One executive producer Jason Kingsley told the 2000 AD podcast they were at least looking into the idea:

The great thing about Karl is, he’s actually a big fan of the comic book, and he’s a really nice guy, and I know him well enough to speak to him personally. We have had many conversations prior to this about all sorts of different things. He’s also a very busy full-time professional actor. So, we are going to have some long and complicated conversations, I would imagine, and we’ll see where we go. It’s too easy to tell yet. But if we can use him, and he is available to us, then I think that would be absolutely brilliant.

Here’s how first reports describe the new series:

The show is set in a future where the East Coast of the U.S. has become a crowded and crime-ridden megalopolis. It will be an ensemble drama about a team of Judges — futuristic cops invested with the power to be judge, jury, and executioner — as they deal with the challenges the future-shocked 22nd century throws at them.

Urban’s version was certainly a more grounded take on the 1977 character (to say nothing of Sylvester Stallone’s fantastical, but unmasked 1995 take), but should the new series land somewhere in the middle? Is Urban still the best choice, even with new continuity?