20th Century Studios has attached Christopher McQuarrie, director of the four most recent Mission: Impossible films, to write and direct King Conan, in which Arnold Schwarzenegger will reprise his early signature role.

The film would continue the story line established in the 1982 fantasy film Conan and its 1984 sequel, but would leap ahead 40 years to a time when Conan, as king, has become complacent and is slowly forced out of his own kingdom. Returning to glory will involve some epic battles and magical creatures in the manner of the books by Robert E. Howard. Today’s technology would make all of that much bigger than would have been possible in the time of the first two films.

A Return to Glory Days

Schwarzenegger announced McQuarrie’s involvement in the project over the weekend at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio. The star also mentioned speaking with Dan Trachtenberg about returning to the Predator franchise that the filmmaker revived with 2022’s Prey and last year’s follow-up Predator: Badlands. Schwarzenegger also noted that he has received a script for Commando 2 that would see the actor return to the role of Colonel John Matrix that he originated in the original 1985 action film.

Hollywood has been trying to get a broadsword back into Schwarzenegger’s hands for years. Universal had the rights to the character in the early 2010s with Fast & Furious scribe Chris Morgan placing Schwarzenegger’s Conan in an Unforgiven-style story, but that film was never made. Now the rights have shifted to 20th Century, who has spent a better part of the last year acquiring them so they can move forward with a new feature, and we’re not out of the woods yet. Many a deserving project ends up in development hell, never even to reach the production planning stage prior to shooting.

Conan the Septuagenarian

Then there’s the actor’s age and health. Scharzenegger is 74, has had multiple heart surgeries (including receiving a pacemaker in 2024), and joint issues (including a hip replacement). He still trains every day for 90 minutes on resistance machines, concentrating on cardio and lighter weights to protect his joints, but this isn’t the same as the bulk building training he was doing when he was competing as a body builder. By the time the film finally goes into production, he’ll be on the high side of his 70’s, and may not be up to the rigors that film making requires.

If they’re going to make this film, they’d better do it relatively fast. That said, we think they still have time to make a good effort of it, and fans will line up to see this.