Legend of Conan Still In Development, Writer Reveals First Scene

By Danny F. Santos (doddleNEWS)

Conan the Barbarian is a classic film by John Milius which gave us the best answer to “What is best in life?” The sequel, Conan the Destroyer, neutered the violence and added humor in order to secure a PG rating, which the producers hoped would make the film appeal to a broader demographic but it just turned the fans off.

Years later, a remake starring Jason Momoa fizzled at the box office in 2011 before a new sequel starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Legend of Conan, was announced back in 2012. While the film was supposed to go into production in late 2015 that date has come and gone making fans wonder what the state of the film is. Co-writer Will Beall confirmed that the film is still being actively developed, and went as far as to tell /Film how the film starts:

“It opens there. It opens with this [hand on the chin]. It’s where you have to. It’s the sequel that we were promised and never got. I’m 11 when my father took me to see Conan the Barbarian, which you should never take an 11-year-old kid to. It was a life changing thing. It’s an unbelievable movie. It comes back to [director John] Milius, right? There’s nobody better and it’s a real movie. It’s a truthful movie. [Co-writer] Chris [Morgan] and I from the very beginning said there’s no reason to do it unless it’s a worthy sequel to Milius’s Conan and I think we’ve got that. I really do.”

One of the key things about the original was that ending of the film where Conan sat on a throne with the following narration:

So, did Conan return the wayward daughter of King Osric to her home. And having no further concern, he and his companions sought adventure in the West. Many wars and feuds did Conan fight. Honor and fear were heaped upon his name. In time he became a king by his own hand…. And this story shall also be told.

I guess that story will remain untold but it is the perfect place to begin the next film because it brings up all kinds of questions about how he got there and what’s going through his mind. We’ve yet to see a film sequel/remake that rivals Conan the Barbarian but every fan has always wondered about that final shot.

Earlier this year Schwarzenegger, revealed that the film had been retitled Conan the Conqueror, and described the plot pretty simply as:

“I’m sitting on the throne for years and years — decades, and then all of the sudden, the time comes when they want to overthrow me.

Producer Morgan added that the film would be somewhat like Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, while ignoring the loathed Conan the Destroyer altogether. Meanwhile, producer Frederick Malmberg has secured the rights to all of Robert E. Howard’s works, which includes Kull the Conquerer and Solomon Kane, and plans to create a cinematic universe. But first, they’ll have to get the next Conan movie off the ground.