Death can work, since having out of nowhere crazy things happen is the status quo in the comics. I wouldn't put it near the beginning of the first season
That was my caveat too. Death works when you have something to compare him to. Shoving him in right at the start makes no sense. (I also liked the way he was introduced in the comic, like a bolt from the blue. I'm not sure you need any foreshadowing. Just drop him in one week and play.)
Quote : ABCWARBOT:
"I still know a lot about Dredd and that the character is still pretty much the same as when he started"
If you follow the John Wagner continuity of Dredd, I would argue that the character has changed over the decades as he has grown old. His views have softened, such as his views on mutants, democracy, the judge system etc.
What's the saying? Something like Judge Dredd changes like a glacier. From week to week, it's not obvious, but read a contemporary Dredd and it's a world away from the classic era, and especially from the Silver days. Dredd's gone from essentially being a yes-man for the system, to trying to reform it in his image of justice, to more recently recognising that changes might be coming (through the likes of America Jara). His stance on various issues, as SIP says, has very much softened. He's still a hard-arse for the most part, but I imagine if the Dredd of today somehow met his counterpart from 2100, he'd think him a bit of a dick.
The doubts Dredd has with the system would not be well served in a movie as it would need a longer run time to do justice, but a TV series could use it effectively.
Doubts need a trigger, and a trigger only works when you have familiarity with the system. There's a sense of groundwork for that perhaps happening in the movie: Anderson in particular tries a more human approach. (There's also an accelerated take on the glacier, in Dredd's opinion of Anderson shifting as she proves her worth.)
It's interesting to think where this could all go if it sticks around for the long term. I just hope they manage to get it off the ground at all – lots of challenges and roadblocks ahead!
