Dredd star Karl Urban has engaged in early talks concerning the Judge Dredd: Mega-City One television show — and he’s interested in reprising his role as the faceless street judge.
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“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 during Trekonderoga over the weekend (via Trek Movie).
“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.”
Producer Brian Jenkins said on the Dredd-centric 2000AD Thrill-Cast podcast he’s had “many conversations” about Urban returning, but acknowledged the Star Trek and Thor: Ragnarok star as a “very busy, full-time professional actor.”
“So we’re going to have some long and complicated conversations I would imagine, and we’ll see where we go. It’s too early to tell yet, but if we can use him and he’s available to us, then I think that would be absolutely brilliant,” Jenkins said. “There’s always a possibility he will be busy, or that his schedule for other movies won’t allow — basically, we don’t know at this stage.”
Urban previously told ComicBook.com he would “love to come back and be a part” of Mega-City One “if they write some great material for Dredd, and give him a real purpose and a function.”
