Arnold Schwarzenegger Already Has An Idea For Netflix's Conan (If It Ever Happens)
Not all actors experience a spike in productivity in their later years. Fewer still choose to put their foot on the gas after having served as governor. For Arnold Schwarzenegger, his post-Governator years are proving to be some of the busiest of his career. He's leading his own TV series for the first time with the forthcoming "FUBAR," he has a Netflix docuseries in the works, and he's penning a self-help book.
With all of that on Schwarzenegger's plate, he still has time to consider one more project: the long-awaited "The Legend of Conan." Following the 2011 "Conan the Barbarian" reboot starring Jason Momoa, Universal Pictures announced plans for a Schwarzenegger-starring sequel that followed Conan into old age. Universal scrapped the project in 2017, but Arnold is holding out hope that "The Legend of Conan" will come to fruition.
Helping matters, he says, is the would-be project's compelling concept of mimicking Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven." Rather than de-age Conan or look backwards, Schwarzenegger told The Hollywood Reporter, "The Legend of Conan" would highlight the grizzled hero in old age. "I think you do it like 'Unforgiven,'" said Schwarzenegger, "where you play the age."
The Unforgiven-inspired Conan is in limbo
Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't unique in citing "Unforgiven" as a "Legend of Conan" lodestar. In 2014, producer Chris Morgan namechecked the western in an interview with IGN. "It's going to be our 'Unforgiven,'" he said, comparing a potential "Conan" project to the Eastwood film, which follows an aging outlaw out on one last job. "['The Legend of Conan' is] a guy who has to come back, and I want him to play his age. I want him to be looking at the later years of his life and have to contemplate this horrific threat."
Unfortunately, the future of "The Legend of Conan" rests in the hands of Fredrik Malmberg. According to Schwarzenegger, the producer teased a deal with Netflix that may or may not exist. "Malmberg owns the rights," Schwarzenegger said in the same Hollywood Reporter interview. "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."
This case of development hell is all the more frustrating considering that interested parties are ready and willing to move forward with the project. "There's a great script out there that John Milius wrote, and others have written one," Schwarzenegger continued. "The story is there. There are directors who want to do it. But [Malmberg] has the rights, and until he sells the rights for one or two movies, or for the franchise, there's nothing you can do about it."