2012’s ‘Dredd’ based on the British comic book ‘Judge Dredd’ was written by Alex Garland who went on to direct the acclaimed ‘Ex Machina‘. Garland has expressed that ‘Dredd’ was conceived as the first entry in a trilogy, but after it flopped at the box office, those plans were scuttled. Even though the film didn’t do well, it was well-liked by those that saw it, and that fanbase has been hoping for a follow-up. Last year, media company Rebellion announced plans to make more ‘Judge Dredd’ movies, and a TV series, ‘Mega-City One’ has also been in the works.
There was reportedly a lot of turmoil on the set of ‘Dredd’, and star Karl Urban has stated that Garland actually directed the movie, not Pete Travis who was given credit, but due to a clause in Travis’ contract, Travis was guaranteed to receive credit and news of his termination (which reportedly came very early into production) would not be made public. (Travis apparently has a reputation for being fired from projects, but thanks to this clause, it is never reported and he still receives credit.)
RELATED: According To Karl Urban, Alex Garland Was The Real Director Of ‘Dredd’
Fans of ‘Dredd’ were hoping that Garland would be involved, but at New York Comic Con, Garland dashed those hopes:
“No. It was a pretty crude experience, for a bunch of reasons. At the end of it, I didn’t want to go back. I love Dredd, by which I mean I love the character, but I’m not in any hurry to do that again.”
It sounds as though this was a pretty lousy situation, and Garland is not keen to revisit the brand because of it.
RELATED: Alex Garland Won’t Return To Direct ‘Annihilation’ Sequel
Garland is venturing into TV, with his new series ‘Devs’ coming to FX next year. He stated that his disappointing experiences with the distribution of ‘Ex Machina’ and his second film ‘Annihilation’ have disillusioned him with filmmaking, which is why he turned to television.
Rebellion’s plans for ‘Judge Dredd’ were announced in November of last year. Last July, it was announced that the script for the pilot of ‘Mega-City One’ had been completed. Urban has stated that he would be interested in returning as Judge Dredd, but in last September, he admitted that no one has spoken to him about the possibility in “years.” That’s about all we know at this time about these projects at this point.
Are you interested in revisiting ‘Dredd’/’Judge Dredd’ without the involvement of Alex Garland?
Source: Screen Geek
