The last we heard about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s return to the world of Conan The Barbarian, things were looking good. A script had been worked on, and the phrase “Unforgiven with swords!” was being thrown around. They were hoping to get filming soon.
Well, if you have been holding your breath, you can stop now. When EW caught up with producer Chris Morgan to discuss The Fate Of The Furious, they also asked if there had been any forward movement on Legend Of Conan. The answer wasn’t particularly encouraging.
“Not so much,” he said. “That’s kind of a longer story. At the end of the day, the studio decided that they weren’t gonna make that. I gotta say, it’s honestly a heartbreak. I love that first movie so much, so much, it’s one of my favorite movies. We had Will Beall do a draft on [the Legend of Conan script]. He killed it. Our take was Conan, 30 years later, a story like the Clint Eastwood Unforgiven. It was so awesome.
“Ultimately, the budget was big, the studio was not really sure of the title, and the relevance in the marketplace. They ended up letting it go. I think they’re gonna look to do a TV show or something with it. But just to be associated with it, pitch it to Arnold, have him get so excited, there was a moment of magic for me, personally [laughs]. You never know, down the road we may revisit!”
Beall is the writer of Aquaman and he recently signed on to script the Creature From The Black Lagoon reboot for Universal. It’s sad news indeed if Arnie doesn’t get to give us his take on an ageing Conan, but from a studio’s perspective another ultraviolent fantasy TV series does make sense. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that Universal will have a change of heart.
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