The days of high adventure might finally be back. One of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s signature franchises, Conan, has long been on the actor’s wish list of films he could revisit. And now, that idea has taken its biggest step in years. Christopher McQuarrie, the Oscar-winning writer of The Usual Suspects and director of the last four Mission: Impossible movies, is attached to write and direct a third film in the franchise, King Conan.
Schwarzenegger himself first broke the news at an event called the Arnold Sports Festival in Ohio, which was then confirmed by the Hollywood Reporter. The project is set up at 20th Century Studios, which is owned by Disney.
Conan the Barbarian was one of Schwarzenegger’s earliest breakout roles way back in 1982, and it subsequently got a sequel, Conan the Destroyer, in 1984. The first film, however, ended with an image of an older, grizzled Conan as a king and teased many more adventures to come. It’s an idea the actor, and plenty of others, have tried to bring to life for decades. But now, somehow, it’s moving forward again.
“With King Conan, it’s a great old story that Conan was 40 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,” Schwarzenegger said at the event. “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.”
Since it’s been almost 50 years since Schwarzenegger swung Conan’s sword, though, he was sure to clarify that the film will take that into consideration. “Now, what they do is that they write the part,” he said. “They don’t write them like I’m 40 years old; you write it to be age-appropriate. I’ll still go in there and kick some ass, but it will be different.”
While the addition of McQuarrie certainly makes King Conan, or The Legend of Conan, as it’s sometimes been referred to, more real than ever, we aren’t holding our breath. Just because an Oscar-winning director takes a crack at something doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.
Plus, as much as Arnold Schwarzenegger and fantasy fans love Conan, it’s not exactly the marquee name it once was. Jason Momoa even tried to bring it back a few years ago, something you probably don’t even remember happening. But there’s a lot of potential here, so we hope it happens. It’s time for the days of high adventure to reign once again.
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