In the end, Conan the Barbarian hasn’t quite said his last word. Last April, Robert Rodriguez confided that his project at Netflix was dead in the bud. The father ofAlita : Battle Angel explained that the platform had let the rights expire and that its series had been abandoned. Bad news for readers who were hoping to finally discover an adaptation worthy of Robert E. Howard’s legendary stories.
There is still hope, from 20th Century Studios and Christopher McQuarrie. According to information reported by The Hollywood Reporterthe director of the last four Mission : Impossible looks at the fate of the legendary adventurer. He is not alone in his business, since Arnold Schwarzenegger is also involved. It would be for the 78-year-old actor to reprise one of the most significant roles of his career. He lent his features to Conan in 1982 and 1984. During the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, the actor revealed some crucial information about the plot and the filmmaker’s approach.
Conan more barbaric
The interpreter of the legendary hero explains that the story will involve immersing spectators 40 years after the events of the last film. “It’s a great story. Conan reigns for 40 years, then becomes complacent and finds himself cast out of his kingdom. Conflict ensues, of course, and then he comes back one way or another. That’s when all kinds of madness, violence, magic and creatures descend upon him.”
The actor is convinced of the merits of the approach, arguing that progress in visual effects will greatly benefit this new proposal. “Today, we benefit from all the special effects and the studios have the means to produce spectacular films. So I can’t wait to discover all these projects.”
A long gestation
This is not the first time that Hollywood has tried to bring Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Conan back to the forefront. In the 2010s, Universal held the rights and hoped to entrust a new film to Chris Morgan, screenwriter of Fast & Furious. It was about integrating Conan into a story radically different from the previous films. Universal wanted its fantasy Merciless (Clint Eastwood). But after years of development, the project fell through. Universal lost the rights and 20th Century Studios spent a significant part of 2025 negotiating to take them over.
The Disney subsidiary won its case and is now working to bring its project to fruition. She has in her hands a monument of fantasy, which, if it benefits from an adaptation worthy of the name, could redefine the place of the genre in global pop culture. 20 years before Tolkien wrote his Lord of the RingsRobert E. Howard defined the codes of modern fantasy with his stories for the magazine Weird Tales. An adaptation worthy of his writings would mark a turning point for heroic fantasy in cinema.
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