Dredd star Karl Urban has shared his thoughts following the passing of Judge Dredd co-creator Carlos Ezquerra, who passed away yesterday at 70.
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Urban appeared in the 2012 feature film featuring Judge Dredd, and has been lobbying ever since for a sequel or other follow-up. Now that a TV series set in Mega-City One is in development, Urban has been rumored to return to the role.
You can see Urban’s comments below.
My heart thoughts and prayers
— Karl Urban (@KarlUrban) October 1, 2018
Go out the family of legendary artist and Judge Dredd co creator Carlos Ezquerra .
His exemplary work served as inspiration for me and countless other filmmakers and artists worldwide .
Though Mike McMahon was the first to draw Judge Dredd in 2000 AD in 1977, Ezquerra was the first to visualize the look and world Judge Dredd, the unflinching lawman of Mega-Cty One.
He and writer John Wagner left 2000 AD over a dispute over ownership of Judge Dredd, but both would eventually return to the magazine and their creation.
Ezquerra and Wagner went on to create Strontium Dog, another icon of British science fiction comics, for Starlord magazine in 1978.
Ezquerra also is known for drawing 2000 AD’s adaptations of Harry Harrison’s sci-fi antihero The Stainless Steel Rat and for his Just a Pilgrim, his Western genre collaboration with writer Garth Ennis.
“I’m not attached to it, although I did have a preliminary round of conversations with them. I am interested in doing it,” Urban said of Judge Dredd: Mega-City One recently.
“There are a lot of great stories to tell there. It is up to them. I don’t know really where they are in the stages of development. If I get the opportunity, great, otherwise someone else will do it, and we can all see some more Judge Dredd. I did read the comics when I was a kid, as a teenager I read Judge Dredd a lot.”
The show, an ensemble centered around various judges protecting and cleansing the over-crowded, crime-ridden streets of Mega-City, could see Urban return as the titular Dredd — provided a worthwhile story is in place.
“Their idea for Mega-City One is was basically to build the show around more rookie judges and young, new judges, and Dredd would come in and out,” Urban said. “And I said that I’ll do it, but it has to be done in a meaningful way. I can’t just come on and grunt and pull faces, there has to be a story there for him. There has to be a kind of little arc and a story we are trying to tell. So, we will see what they do.”
