For more than a decade, Legend of Conan, also known as King Conan or Conan the Conqueror, has been stuck in development limbo. The film was meant to be a true sequel to John Milius’ 1982 classic Conan the Barbarian, with Arnold Schwarzenegger returning to the role that made him a star. But after more than 25+ years of announcements, studio hopping and interviews, the project kept stalling.
City on Fire has followed the story since day one, and for a long time it sounded like the movie might actually happen. In 2001, Milius himself had completed a script, titled King Conan: Crown of Iron, centering on an older, settled King Conan, weary and softened by years on the throne, who is drawn into one last, reluctant quest. Milius was set to direct and the Wachowskis (The Matrix) were attached to produce, but the project was ultimately dropped by Warner Bros.
Years later, Fredrik Malmberg (the then-CEO/Head of Paradox Entertainment, now CEO/Head of Cabinet Entertainment, and current owner of the trademarks and certain rights related to “Conan the Barbarian”) claimed the film was “100 percent happening.” The plan was to ignore Conan the Destroyer and the 2011 reboot (the one with Jason Momoa) and continue directly from the 1982 film, focusing on an older Conan searching for one final legendary battle, much like Milius’ vision.
Chris Morgan (Wanted, Fast Five) was brought on to write and produce, with Andrea Berloff (Blood Father) also contributing to the script. Morgan’s take would be placing Schwarzenegger’s Conan in an Unforgiven-style story (i.e. retired gunslinger/warrior takes on one last job). Arnold frequently talked about the project in interviews, saying Universal wanted to finally do the character justice with a serious big budget action film.
There was also no shortage of directors interested. Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall) openly said he would love to direct it, and Arnold reportedly even approached Indian filmmaker S. Shankar (Game Changer). At one point, the story even involved Conan ruling for decades before facing a rebellion.
Despite all the enthusiasm, the film never fully came together. In 2017, Morgan confirmed the studio ultimately pulled the plug, saying the budget was high and the studio questioned whether Conan was still a strong enough brand.
Then in 2023, while promoting Fubar, Schwarzenegger brought the franchise back to light: “It’s been pending for the last 10 years. Malmberg owns the rights. He comes to me and says, ‘Oh, I have a deal with Netflix,’ and when we ask Netflix, they don’t know anything about it. It’s one of those crazy things. I hope he figures it out.” (via The Hollywood Reporter)
It’s now 2026, and we having some promising news…
While attending this weekend’s Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio, Schwarzenegger revealed to TheArnoldFans that FOX has hired filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie (Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning) to write and direct King Conan.
“They just hired a fantastic writer/director who did Tom Cruise’s last four movies,” says Arnold. “They just hired him (McQuarrie) to write and direct King Conan,” said Schwarzenegger.
“With King Conan, it’s a great old story that Conan was forty years as King and now he gets forced out of the kingdom and there’s conflict, of course, but somehow he comes back and there’s all kinds of madness, violence, magic and creatures and stuff like that. And now, of course, there’s all kinds of special effects. The studio has plenty of money to make those movies really big so I’m looking forward to all of those projects,” he continued.
In addition to King Conan, Schwarzenegger mentioned that FOX “has kind of rediscovered Arnold,” expressing interest in him for the next Predator movie and a sequel to 1985’s Commando, which already has a finished script.
We don’t know about you guys, but we’re all in for seeing Arnie return for any of the aforementioned films, especially in King Conan. Make it happen, Fox! (and while you’re at it, bring back Basil Poledouris’ original score).
🔥 Footnote: Could this be the second coming of the 80s’ sword and sorcery genre? Given the recent Deathstalker reboot and the upcoming live-action Masters of the Universe (and to a certain extent, the Highlander remake) the future looks bright for fans of muscular heroes swinging their big swords around.
We’ll keep you updated on King Conan as we learn more. Until then, watch the classic Trailers for Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer below:
I was thinking that until I saw the documentary MILIUS. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. A couple of years ago he suffered from a stroke, and for a short time, he lost the ability to talk and walk. He’s been making a good recovery – he’s able to walk and can barely speak – but I doubt he’s in shape to direct a movie.
He’s still active in films though, and he’s supposed to produce RZA’s Genghis Khan (Milius wrote the screenplay and it was to be his next movie, then the stroke happened).
As something of an expert in these matters, let me say that there’s no way in HELL Shankar could direct a Conan movie
For the love of God, hire Verhoeven.
Really bad news – how could there not be market for this?!
Arnold should have done this movie right out of the gate for his ‘comeback’. Instead he did that awful TERMINATOR movie and too many other bland flicks that nobody gave a damn about.
So there’s no real chance he could open a $100+ million R-rated CONAN movie at this point.
Arnold has reached the point where he’s in Steven Seagal country (i.e., direct to video). This is all the sappy longings males who ten or twelve the Milius film came out. Arnold is 70 years old. The last time Sean Connery and Roger Moore played James Bond they were 53 and 57 respectively. ( Connery remarked at the time, “I’m too old for the role and so is Roger.”) Clint Eastwood was 58 when he last appeared as Dirty Harry — 30 years ago.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE MAKE THE MOVIE!!! THAT WAS MY FATHER’S FAVORITE STORY AND IT’S STILL NOT DONE! He passed away a few years ago but i proimised him that i will tell him about the last adventure of Conan, we were both anticipatring this movie…for 30 years now!
Ledgend of Conan will be a block buster the 1st 2 conans were and the 3rd will,be he’s naturally older will need less make up,except for long hair and beard. The movie will out do the cost there are millions of Conan,fans around the world
Conan lives!!!
CONAN. Arnold’s coming back to his true form with the beast Atlantean Sword in his hand to slay!! I have very large families with many cousins on both sides and we all agree that there isn’t a better fantasy warrior movie than CoNAN! From the powerful and blunt words to the merciless battles against the wicked! One damn things for sure! Conan rules supreme! Arnold we’ve been waiting! YeaAaaAH!
YES! I want this! If they do it right, playing him as ruggedly aged, slower, but still cunning and strong, and, with hard-R action, and, as JJ says, utilize Basil Poledouris’ original score again, it could be spectacular.
I saw the original when it came out, way back when, and have long awaited “another tale.”
I can see how a powerful and elegiac sendoff, like Logan, with Conan reckoning with age and change, and magical, top-notch production values, could create an emotionally resonant classic. But it would require a strong script and a commitment to continuing the cinematic legacy, rather than a second screen piece of “content” shot digitally (instead of film – looks flat, cheap, and doesn’t convey the majesty of a fantasy world) that relies on references in lieu of character development. Hopefully they do this while Arnold is still capable of carrying the film.