Arnold Schwarzenegger is going to need to increase his gym workouts after agreeing to star in the sequel to Conan the Barbarian.
The unexpected news first dropped Thursday evening via Deadline and was verified by Universal on Friday. Schwarzenegger is set to return to the iconic role that launched his career in The Legend of Conan for Universal Pictures.
There is no typo in the article’s title above. The Legend of Conan is being set up as a sequel to John Milius’ Conan the Barbarian that will presumably ignore the events in that film’s first sequel, Conan the Destroyer. Barbarian was an R-rated and graphic film while Destroyer toned back the violence to pump up the mass appeal. Though Destroyer ended with imagery of Conan sitting atop a throne, a third film was never produced.
Obviously the recent reboot of Conan the Barbarian starring Jason Momoa will also be ignored after failing to successfully reboot the franchise.
The expected premise of The Legend of Conan is that Schwarzenegger knows he will be going to Valhalla at death and wants to go out in style in one final battle as he deals with growing old. If this turns out to be true, it could prove a set-up for a new character or characters in the same world to carry the franchise forward. Or, it could simply be Conan’s swam song that failed to materialize after Conan the Destroyer.
The film is being produced by Chris Morgan and Fredrik Malmberg. Morgan has penned the last four Fast and Furious films and will be writing the seventh film in the franchise as well. He is confident about the story put together for The Legend of Conan and considers this new film to be Conan’s Unforgiven.
Universal is penciling in a summer 2014 release for The Legend of Conan starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
