‘Dredd’ Lands Online Miniseries Later This Month From Film’s Executive Producer Adi Shankar

Fantastic news, Dredd fans! Under the very noses of fandom, Adi Shankar, one of the executive producers of the 2012 Dredd film, has created a seven part mini-series set in the same universe, according to TheWrap.

“Shankar has spent the last two years creating a top-secret Dredd miniseries centering on the Dark Judges to thank the loyal fans who passionately supported the feature. Shankar told TheWrap that the project will be released online later this month — and the best part — it will be free.”

If you had grown up in the 90s and ever had the “pleasure” of watching the movie Judge Dredd–and not reading the comic–you may have subsequently found yourself skipping out on the similarly titled Dredd in 2012, which is a film based on the same source material as the former. If you missed out on the Karl Urban-starring film a couple years back, you weren’t alone as Dredd performed abysmally at the box office, raking in only $35 million worldwide ($15 million domestically) on a $50 million budget.

With all that in mind, it may be surprising that Dredd is getting a follow-up of any kind. Although Dredd didn’t do well in theaters, its home media run went surprisingly well, and the folks at Screen Rant anticipated a sequel of sorts in the future if trends continued. However, it is doubtful anyone anticipated a sequel in this form.

Created by Adi Shankar, this follow-up of Dredd technically qualifies as a fan film and falls on the “unofficial” side of things. It is therefore a part of Shankar’s Bootleg Universe (which also consists of Punisher: Dirty Laundry). While not official, his mini-series is meant to be something of a love letter to fans everywhere who supported the 2012 Dredd film that–against all odds–managed to gain a cult following. In a “thank you” video from Shankar a little over a week ago, he breaks down how important this cult following is to him and leaves little doubt that it is because of them that this Dredd miniseries exists.

“It’s because of you guys. Here’s what you guys did plain and simple in English. You guys took something that society deemed a failure. That society marginalized. That society said shouldn’t be important, that didn’t deserve the time of day and you turned it into a success. You guys have redefined what success means because it’s not ‘opening weekend,’ it’s not ‘box office,’ it’s cultural resonance. This movie resonates with you guys, and that is so f**king cool!”

No word yet on whether or not Karl Urban will reprise his role as Judge Dredd, but one can only hope.