Conan's legend continues: Writer 'looking into' new life for planned film

Nothing can stop Arnold Schwarzenegger. The septuagenarian actor is coming back to the Terminator franchise, and now it seems one of his other famous genre roles isn't quite finished with him.

When last we heard about the old man Conan movie The Legend of Conan, it was when longtime Fast & Furious series screenwriter Chris Morgan explained its cancellation. Universal simply didn't want to spend the cash on a franchise it wasn't sure would get modern moviegoers excited. Back then, it was thought that the story of Conan, 30 years later, could be turned into a TV show.

Now it seems that the idea still lives — and may even be going back to the big screen.

Morgan, whose film Hobbs & Shaw recently brought Deadpool 2 director David Leitch into the fray, did an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, part of which (the Conan part) ended up in its Heat Vision newsletter.

"We were kinda going to do basically Unforgiven with Conan where he's not the strongest guy in the world anymore," Morgan said. "The point of the story is that even with old age, you're still valuable even if you're not the strongest thing in the world. Conan used to be the strongest, but now he's got to be smart."

An older, wiser version of Robert E. Howard’s character sounds like the perfect endcap for Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer. But it wasn't exactly a hot property during its development, and the star power of Schwarzenegger had recently failed to make Terminator Genisys more than a curiosity.

But now, in a world where Terminator: Dark Fate has plenty of hype and more returning cast members, Schwarzenegger is back — and so, too, may be The Legend of Conan.

"It might happen in another life," Morgan explained. "We're looking into it.”

After only a year and change spent on the shelf, the script for The Legend of the Conan, and Schwarzenegger's interest in the project, haven't had much time to fade. If the film really starts picking up steam again, fans shouldn't be surprised if the big screen takes a final trip to the Hyborian Age.