Shooting will start this fall, but no release date is set

May 26, 2015 14:55 GMT  ·  By
Arnold Schwarzenegger will return for "Conan the Barbarian" sequel, "The Legend of Conan"
   Arnold Schwarzenegger will return for "Conan the Barbarian" sequel, "The Legend of Conan"

Arnold Schwarzenegger has long promised fans a follow-up to his 1982 classic “Conan the Barbarian,” directed by John Milius, and it looks like the project is well underway as we speak. “The Legend of Conan” doesn’t have a release date just yet, but everything else about it is pretty much set in stone.

For instance, TheArnoldFans has learned, producer Fredrik Malmberg is hoping for a fall production start date, saying that “the sooner the better” to get the movie under actual production.

As for what fans of the original should expect from the sequel, Chris Morgan, who wrote the script, tells the e-zine that this won’t be a fun or light blockbuster: the plan is to maintain the tone of the original and pay tribute to it while relaunching the franchise.

Think of George Miller’s “Mad Max: Fury Road,” which reboots the “Mad Max” franchise after 30 years. The comparison is mine, not Morgan’s.

“A light-hearted Conan?! CROM! No. Our tone is a logical extension of the character established in the ’82 film… but 30 years later. When we meet him again, Conan has been many things over the course of his life - a thief, a warrior, a pirate, a king, a legend - and is now an older man. Think Unforgiven… with a sword-wielding barbarian,” Morgan explains.

Until he starts working on Conan, Arnold has another reboot coming out this summer, “Terminator: Genisys,” in which he reprises the role of the deadly Terminator, but he’s pretty much the good guy in this one.

Hype around “Genisys” has been great but not always entirely positive, so whether it will be a box office success is a gamble right now.