Although Judge Dredd has been dealing out his own brand of justice for the last 40 years, there have only been two live-action adaptations to date: the 1995 Judge Dredd film starring Sylvester Stallone, and the 2012 reboot movie, Dredd, which placed Karl Urban in the iconic role. Although there were grand plans to make sequels for both films, neither movie managed to become a full-fledged franchise. But Dredd’s fortunes may be about to change.

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Karl Urban Back as Judge Dredd

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The Helmet Stays On

Judge Anderson

Olivia Thirlby as Judge Anderson

Judge Hershey

Judge Hershey

Explore Mega-City One

The Cursed Earth and Beyond

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East-Meg One

Judge Death

The Dark Judges

Earlier this month, 2000 AD announced that it is collaborating with IM Global Television and Rebellion on a Judge Dredd television series . The new show will be called Judge Dredd: Mega-City One , and it will feature the title character alongside a team of younger judges as they take on the futuristic world where most of the major cities on the east coast of the United States have become a single “megalopolis” known as Mega-City One.The Judge Dredd series is still at a very early stage and there is no network currently attached to it, but it is very promising that 2000 AD is taking a more active hand in this adaptation. Perhaps we’ll finally get the Judge Dredd that we deserve. So we’ve put together a wish list of the nine things we want to see in Judge Dredd: Mega-City One. Just remember, “I am the law!”Although Dredd wasn’t exactly a blockbuster, the majority of fans who saw it thought that Karl Urban was the perfect choice for Judge Dredd. Urban has also lobbied pretty hard for a Dredd sequel and expressed his willingness to reprise the role. While it seems like the TV series is going to be a full reboot, there is still a chance that Urban will get another opportunity to suit up.Producer Brian Jenkins was recently a guest on the 2000 AD Thrill-Cast , and he indicated that he’s very much on board with the idea of bringing back Urban... if he’s available. “We have had many conversations prior to this, about all sorts of things. He’s also very busy, a full-time professional actor. We’re going to have some long and complicated conversations I would imagine, and we’ll see where we go,” said Jenkins. “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. 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.”It’s true that Urban has a busy film schedule, but he’s also starred in the Almost Human series on Fox, so he’s clearly up for the challenging grind of TV. The good news is that Urban is at least open to the possibility. That’s all we can hope for, at least for now.One of the keys to Dredd’s mythos is that readers and viewers never get an unobstructed view of his face. The Stallone movie entirely did away with that, but Urban’s Dredd followed the source material and never showed him without his signature helmet. Dredd isn’t the type of character to show much empathy or emotion, and keeping his face hidden is really the only way to be true to that vision. Let the younger judges take off their helmets and be personal. Dredd needs to remain separate from everyone... including the viewers.It might be a longshot to get Urban back for the series, and even more so for Olivia Thirlby to reprise her role as Psi-Judge Cassandra Anderson. As demonstrated in Dredd, Anderson brings her humanity and her emotions to bear in a way that the main character can’t and won’t match. Anderson’s rich legacy of solo comic book adventures have also shown that she can carry her own stories, and her mental powers make her one of the most formidable judges in Mega-City One. She’s incredibly compelling and she’s more than a match for the title character. This series needs Judge Anderson just as much as it needs Dredd himself.Judge Barbara Hershey was aptly played by Diane Lane in the 1995 movie, but she was noticeably absent in Dredd. Like Anderson, Hershey is one of the most prominent female judges in the Judge Dredd comics, and she’s even headlined her own adventures. Hershey’s path is even more unique, in that she started out as Dredd’s junior colleague and she ended up becoming the Chief Judge of Mega-City One at a very early age. Essentially, she’s Dredd’s boss and one of the few judges who he really respects.Allowing Hershey and Anderson to co-exist in the new series would give the show a chance to explore different aspects of both characters, while adding depth to the supporting cast. Hershey is also very important to the comic, and she deserves a spot in this series.Previous adaptations of Judge Dredd have only scratched the surface of Mega-City One. Since the new series places the name of the city in the title, that suggests that we’ll get a more expanded view this time. As much as the intrigue among the judges can be entertaining, the new show should be able to explore the darker parts of the city while introducing villains like the Angel Gang. But we’d also like to see more of the ordinary citizens who live in Mega-City One and get a sense of what their lives are like under the rule of the judges. This is far from a utopian society, but it can be very interesting.There’s more to Judge Dredd than just Mega-City One. Beyond the borders of the city is the Cursed Earth, a radioactive wasteland with even more dangerous renegades and mutants who weren’t allowed to live among the regular population. Several Judge Dredd stories have taken place in the Cursed Earth, but there’s also Mega-City Two on the west coast, a lunar colony, and the penal colony on Titan, where corrupt judges are sent. If the series manages to take off, there are no shortage of places to take Dredd and the other judges beyond the limits of their own city.Even in the ’80s, it seemed kind of dated for the former Soviet Union to have their own megalopolis. And yet current events with Russia have once again made the idea relevant. East-Meg One has its own judges, and an occasionally deadly cold war with Mega-City One. Mutually assured destruction wasn’t always enough to keep the superpowers in check, and that raised the stakes whenever Dredd had to turn his eyes towards his counterparts in East-Meg. That’s something that could be very fascinating on the show itself.Neither Judge Dredd adaptation was bold enough to open with Dredd’s greatest foe: Judge Death. Within the comics, Judge Death comes from a world where living is the ultimate crime, and the only suitable punishment is death. Judge Death can kill with his touch and he’s immensely powerful. He’s also impossible to kill, since Death’s spirit can simply escape and eventually inhabit a new body. Death is also the personal nemesis of Judge Anderson, since she was forced to trap him inside of her mind and spend years in stasis just to keep him from escaping. Death’s presence immediately ups the stakes for any Judge Dredd story, and his live-action debut is long overdue.Once you have Judge Death, the only way to really escalate the threat is to introduce the rest of the Dark Judges: Judge Fire, Judge Fear and Judge Mortis. Together with Judge Death, they slaughtered the inhabitants of their world, and they’ve tried many times to cleanse Mega-City One of the living as well. Given that the new series will be featuring more judges than either Dredd or Anderson, the arrival of the Dark Judges would be the perfect way to establish that these judges can die. Like Death, the Dark Judges can’t be killed, and they could also be recurring villains for the show.What do you want from the Judge Dredd TV series? Share your thoughts in the comment section!