Schwarzenegger's Legend of Conan Movie Isn't Moving Forward

CBR

By Andrew Paul

Published Apr 6, 2017

Fate of the Furious screenwriter Chris Morgan, who was also tasked with the Conan sequel, admits the film is dead in the water.

Ever since the 2011 reboot of "Conan the Barbarian" flopped, rumors of a direct sequel to the original 80's films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger have made rounds on the Internet from time to time. More recently, a project entitled "Legend of Conan" seemed poised to become a reality, which would have seen the former Governor of California reprising his role for one last ride as the Cimmerian warrior. News of the project has been sparse for a while, and unfortunately, it's because of what many Conan fans suspected -- the movie is no longer in the cards.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, screenwriter Chris Morgan opened up a bit about the failed sequel while promoting a different franchise sequel, "Fate of the Furious."

"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," Morgan explained before recounting the story's outline. "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."

In the end, however, the studio decided to pass for a number of reasons, though the anticipated production and marketing cost was at the top of the list. "Ultimately, the budget was big, the studio was not really sure of the title, and the relevance in the marketplace," Morgan said. "They ended up letting it go," said Morgan. "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!"

While that's certainly a bummer for sword-and-sandal fans, Morgan let slip a bit of info to keep hopes alive, saying, "I think they’re gonna look to do a TV show or something with it."

Schwarzenegger swinging a sword on the small screen is probably unlikely, but hopefully something good will come out of it all in the not-too-distant-future.