Arnold Schwarzenegger to Reprise His Role as Conan the Barbarian

Remember when he told everyone he’d be back? Evidently he wasn’t kidding. Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to return as the sword-wielding barbarian, Conan, a deadly warrior from a dark and savage world where violence is always the best way to negotiate.  In 2011 the franchise was rebooted after spending years in development hell, however the film ultimately received largely negative reviews and was universally panned; it seemed things weren’t right without Arnie in the starring role.

After starring in recent blockbuster The Expendables 2 and the upcoming The Last Stand, the ex-Terminator is more than happy to return to the role. The film will be produced by Fredrik Malmberg and Chris Morgan. Malmberg is CEO of Paradox Entertainment, which holds the rights to Conan. Morgan’s past credits include the last four Fast and the Furious films, along with Wanted and 47 Ronin. In an interview with Deadline, Arnie said “I always loved the Conan character and I’m honoured to be asked to step into the role once again”.

The script is being worked on by Chris Morgan, but there’s still no director attached to the project. Morgan said:

“After the original seminal movie, all that came after looked silly to me. Robert E. Howard‘s mythology and some great philosophy from Nietzsche to Atilla the Hun was layered in the original film. People say, he didn’t speak for the first 20 minutes of the film, but that was calculated in depicting this man who takes control of life with his own hand.

“This movie picks up Conan where Arnold is now in his life, and we will be able to use the fact that he has aged in this story. I love the property of Conan so much that I wouldn’t touch it unless we came up with something worthy. We think this is a worthy successor to the original film”

Universal Pictures reportedly wants the film ready for Summer 2014.