‘King Conan’: Arnold Schwarzenegger Confirms 2027 Filming for Fantasy Sequel!!

It’s easy to forget for many people that Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t just pop up overnight as The Terminator. In fact, the reason he became well known was because first, he was the sword-wielding barbarian who was a key figure in big screen fantasy filmmaking. Conan the Barbarian remains one of the most important movies in the career of the Austrian Oak and more than 40 years later, a comeback is finally on the cards.

Schwarzenegger has confirmed that King Conan, the long-awaited sequel to Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer, is expected to begin filming in 2027, coming after years and years… and years of development on the project which has been discussed ad infinitum. And what’s more, Schwarzenegger also revealed that Mission: Impossible filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie is set to direct.

Schwarzenegger explained, via TheArnoldFans, that the sequel wouldn’t have worked immediately after the original movies because the whole point is to revisit Conan decades later, when he’s a different person altogether, older, wiser and more self-reflective:

“The movie wouldn’t have worked after I did the first Conan because the whole idea of King Conan is that for 40 years he has been king, he is older now. He is no longer in the shape he was from his heyday and now people are trying to take him out. He’s the king and he gets a little bit complacent. He’s tired of the job and he wants to move on. Look at the movie by Clint Eastwood, The Unforgiven. It will be a lot like that but it will be with extraordinary battles.”

When Will ‘King Conan’ Film?

The project has also taken a major step forward behind the scenes. Fredrik Malmberg of Conan Properties International, who is producing King Conan, said a deal between CPI, Schwarzenegger, and Twentieth Century Fox has been completed to make the sequel happen. Schwarzenegger then confirmed the filming window himself, saying, “Next year we are going to do King Conan. So that is a reality now and I am excited about it. For the last ten years I have been saying, ‘we should do King Conan, and we should get a great script written, get someone who really understands Rober E. Howard, that understands the artwork of Frank Frazetta and to continue on.’ I want to have John Milius, the director of Conan 1, to be maybe the producer. So, it will be really fantastic.”

James Earl Jones (Star Wars, The Lion King) as Thulsa Doom, Sandahl Bergman (Red Sonja, All That Jazz) as Valeria, Gerry Lopez (Big Wednesday, North Shore) as Subotai, Mako (The Sand Pebbles, Pearl Harbor) as Akiro, Max von Sydow (The Exorcist, Minority Report) as King Osric, and Cassandra Gava (High Road to China, Angel) as the Witch.