Director Taika Waititi signs on for the long-awaited new Judge Dredd movie to launch a "Dredd universe" - but it looks like Karl Urban might be out

Judge Dredd is coming back to the movies for the first time since 2012's sublime Dredd, which starred Karl Urban in a pitch-perfect rendition of the comic book anti-hero.

According to THR, Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi (a self-professed Dredd-head) is signed on to direct the new Judge Dredd film. But in a total monkey's paw moment for Dredd fans, it seems that star Karl Urban may be out in favor of a total reboot.

THR reports that the new film is meant to launch a potential "Dredd universe" of interconnected characters and projects, just as the character serves as the flagship of many of the oddball sci-fi adventurers found in his home magazine, 2000 AD.

Appropriately, the new Judge Dredd film is said to be aiming for a tone closer to the dark satire side of Dredd's adventures, potentially forgoing some of the previous iteration's hardcore grittiness in favor of Waititi's usual whimsical weirdness. The film is set to be written by Drew Pearce of The Fall Guy and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation fame.

Waititi has become something of a polarizing superhero filmmaker thanks to the whiplash of his fantastic Thor: Ragnarok and its poorly received follow-up Thor: Love and Thunder.

And whereas the tone of the former (with a bit more edge and a lot more bullets) could potentially suit Judge Dredd well, leaning too much into the saccharine humor of the latter might bring the new film too closely to 1995's Sylvester Stallone starring Judge Dredd - a terrible film that is rightly hated.

As for Urban, while fans (myself included) may mourn at the likelihood of his recasting, the actor himself seems to be doing just fine, embodying the role of Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat 2, a part he himself lobbied for.

No potential release date for the new Judge Dredd has been announced. In the meantime, stay informed about all the new superhero movies in the works from Marvel, DC, and beyond.