I’ve got some exciting news for all you Conan The Barbarian fans! Netflix is developing a live-action series based on the legendary sword-and-sorcery character that was created by Robert E. Howard.
The project is coming from Fredrik Malmberg and Mark Wheeler’s Pathfinder Media. It’s also the first in a deal between Netflix and Conan Properties International, which is owned by Malmberg’s Cabinet Entertainment. The deal gives Netflix the exclusive option to acquire rights to the Conan literary library and develop works across TV and film, both live-action and animated.
The producers are currently on the hunt for a writer and showrunner to take on the challenge of adapting Conan as a series. They are also looking for a director to helm the project.
There are no details regarding what story the series will tell, but there are a lot of Conan stories to pull from! Conan the Barbarian was introduced in a series of short stories that were first published in 1932 in Weird Tales magazine. “The Conan stories ushered in a new genre of writing: Sword and Sorcery. Through the years the original tales have inspired over a thousand comic books, one hundred novels, three feature films, two television series, multiple video games, and a vast range of collectibles, toys, and more, worldwide.”
The character was most famously played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1982 feature Conan the Barbarian as well as the 1984 sequel Conan the Destroyer. There have been attempts to develop a sequel to these films in recent years with Schwarzenegger reprising his role, but unfortunately, nothing has ever come of that.
A couple of years ago Amazon was developing a Conan drama series, but nothing happened with that either. I hope that Netflix manages to attract the right talent for their series adaptation, someone who will be able to bring Conan to life in a badass way that fans will get pumped up and excited about. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how it turns out.
Source: Deadline