Update On Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Legend Of Conan

Producer Chris Morgan says he and Arnold Schwarzenegger are both “super excited” about Legend Of Conan. “It’s the perfect movie for him, because it plays into his own journey,” Morgan told Empire.

Legend Of Conan was announced in 2012, and it was expected to have been in theaters by 2014, but clearly that didn’t happen. Morgan is optimistic that it will happen in the near future. “Literally right now we’re talking about when it can go ahead,” Morgan said. “We’re figuring it out. I can’t really say… but it’s sooner than you might think!”

Legend Of Conan will be a sequel to the 1982 Conan The Barbarian that was directed by John Milius. Producers have decided to pretend as though Richard Fleischer’s 1984 Conan The Destroyer never existed. I’m not sure I like that as I enjoyed the sequel as much as the original, if not more. Come on, Arnold versus NBA superstar Wilt Chamberlain. It doesn’t get any better than that, right?

The Conan films are based on Robert E. Howard’s fantasy novels that mixed a barbarian world with dark magic. “We look at all the source material and we love things that kind of speak to that tone,” Morgan explained. “We’re incredibly respectful to Howard. I’m a huge fan of the stories and books, but I’m a super-huge fan of the first movie, because that crystallised and distilled it all for me. Milius just killed it. He did such a good job. And Legend Of Conan is really resonant and it really digs into the legacy of that original film. I’m already very proud of it.”

Andrea Berloff wrote the first draft and then they brought in Gangster Squad screenwriter Will Beall to rework it. “Andrea Berloff did a draft,” Morgan reminds us, “and then we had Will step on. I approached him early on in the process, but at the time he was unavailable and couldn’t do it. But then a couple of weeks after he passed on the project I got this package from him in the mail, and I opened it and it was a Conan sword, and on the envelope it said, ‘This you can trust!’ So when he called back a while later said he’d had a slot open up, we slammed him in immediately. He’s just perfect for it; he loves it as much as I do and he has a great voice of Conan. It just makes you happy!”

Legend Of Conan could begin filming later this year.