No, That 'Dredd' Sequel Still Isn't Happening, But Karl Urban Remains Interested

It's been a while since we've checked in on the possibility of a sequel to Dredd, the 2012 Judge Dredd film which starred Karl Urban as the dystopian law enforcer from the 2000 AD comic strip. But today we have a new update courtesy of Urban himself, because a fan caught up with the actor during a recent Q&A at Chicago's C2E2 and pumped him for information about what's happening. Read on for Urban's full quote.

GeekTyrant points us to the 12:07 mark of this video, in which Urban was at C2E2 to promote his Amazon series The Boys but answered a fan question about a possible Dredd sequel:

"Listen, I would love to make it, I'm on the record saying that a bunch of times. I don't know if that's gonna happen. I think that the guys that own the rights to Dredd, Rebellion, I think they're developing something called 'Mega-City One' and it would just be great to see more Dredd, whether it's with me or not, it doesn't matter. I'm a fan of Dredd and there's so many great stories there. I'd love to see them. And I have no doubt that, someday, someone will make it. It's just a matter of time."

Mega-City One is a Judge Dredd TV show that doesn't focus solely on Dredd himself, but instead opens up the scope to be about the brutal, take-no-prisoners police force in a futuristic megalopolis that takes up a majority of the east coast of the United States. It was first announced in 2017, and around that time, we heard Urban was in talks to reprise his role in the show. In 2018, a report claimed that the pilot script had been completed under the supervision of 2000 AD veteran writer Rob Williams, who had teamed with a number of other writers to break the stories for the first two seasons. Things seemed promising. But then...nothing.

Urban's new comments, in which he presents the option that he may not be involved with the series if it moves forward, may be a negotiating tactic for him to get a better deal to return. Or he may be completely genuine and not know what's going on. Either way, he at least sounds like he actually cares about the character and sincerely wants to see more Dredd in whatever form it comes. He's certainly right about one thing: it's only a matter of time before Judge Dredd makes a comeback.