Arnold Schwarzenegger signs up for Conan the Barbarian sequel
The Governator is ready to reprise the role of the warrior king in a new sequel to the 1982 smash-hit fantasy film
Sword and sorcery fans, rejoice! Arnold Schwarzenegger has reportedly signed up to reprise the role which made him a star, and in 2014 the Governator will be back on the big screen sporting wolf-skins and long hair in The Legend of Conan. Well, he did say he’d be back… (though, admittedly, not in Conan.)
The new film is set to pick up from the original 1982 movie Conan the Barbarian, ignoring the events of 1984 follow-up Conan the Destroyer and the 2011 reboot starring Jason Momoa.
The Legend of Conan will be overseen by Fredrik Malmberg, the CEO of Paradox Entertainment, which owns the rights to Conan, and The Fast and The Furious producer Chris Morgan, who hatched the idea for the new film and describes Legend as his dream project.
“The original ended with Arnold on the throne as a seasoned warrior, and this is the take of the film we will make,” Malmberg told Deadline.
“It’s that Nordic Viking mythic guy who has played the role of king, warrior, soldier and mercenary, and who has bedded more women than anyone, nearing the last cycle of his life. He knows he’ll be going to Valhalla, and wants to go out with a good battle.”
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Morgan elaborated further on the reasons for skipping over all of Conan’s post-1982 cinematic outings, saying: “After the original seminal movie, all that came after looked silly to me.
“Robert E Howard’s mythology and some great philosophy from Nietzsche to Atilla the Hun was layered in the original film. People say, he didn’t speak for the first 20 minutes of the film, but that was calculated in depicting this man who takes control of life with his own hand.
“This movie picks up Conan where Arnold is now in his life, and we will be able to use the fact that he has aged in this story. I love the property of Conan so much that I wouldn’t touch it unless we came up with something worthy.
“We think this is a worthy successor to the original film. Think of this as Conan’s Unforgiven.”
The only problem standing in the way of the project is the fact that Morgan has committed to providing a screenplay for the seventh Fast and the Furious movie in 2014, and fears he may not have finished writing that picture by the time Universal Pictures wants Conan ready for release.
However Schwarzenegger welcomed the prospect of a new Conan movie. In a statement, he said: “I always loved the Conan character and I’m honored to be asked to step into the role once again.
“I can’t wait to work with Universal and the great team of Fredrik Malmberg and Chris Morgan to develop the next step of this truly epic story.”
Watch a trailer for the original Conan the Barbarian below:
