Dredd was a movie undone less by its quality, because it was great, and more by a shoddy advertising campaign that didn’t explain to people why it was amazing. Since then, we’ve kept hearing about a sequel, especially as the movie took off on home video. But according to screenwriter Alex Garland, it’s still not likely to happen.
Garland’s been promoting his directorial debut Roboning, er, Ex Machina, and when asked about Dredd’s future on screen by IGN, he had this to say:
My hope is, and I actually think this will happen – somebody else will do it. Not to be all coy and silly about it, but I think our film was better than the first one, right? Just to be blunt. And the job of the next people is to make their film better than ours. And then if they do that, then finally, maybe this character will break out in the way that it deserves to.
Admittedly, Garland doesn’t close the door completely on the idea of the sequel, but it sounds a lot like any talks Karl Urban is alluding to haven’t included Garland. Which is a shame, but as long as “the next one” comes together with the same care and style, we’re hopeful. Dredd deserves a second trial.
