Netflix Are Developing A Live-Action ‘Conan The Barbarian’ TV Series
A few years ago, you might remember that it was announced Amazon was developing a live-action series based around Robert E. Howard’s ‘Conan The Barbarian’. Whilst that seems to have vanished into the mist of time, it has now been revealed that Netflix is having a stab at the property.
The son of a village blacksmith, and born on a battlefield, Conan is a respected warrior who roamed the nations of the Hyborian Age, encountering monsters, wizards, princesses (and the occasional tavern wench) as he travelled the lands. As he grew older, he commanded units of warriors, and even went on to seize the crown from the tyrannical king of Aquilonia, the most powerful kingdom of the Hyborian Age.
‘Conan the Barbarian’ (or “Conan the Cimmerian” as it was also known) has been around since 1932 when Robert E. Howard first published the fantasy stories in the pulp magazine Weird Tales. However, the versions most people probably know best are the 80s films ‘Conan the Barbarian’ and ‘Conan the Destroyer’ which gave Arnold Schwarzenegger his acting breakthrough. In addition to that, there was a new attempt at the film franchise in 2011 with Jason Momoa in the lead, a couple of animated series, and a previous live-action television series in 1997 called ‘Conan the Adventurer’. The property has also been turned into various video game and comic books over the years.
This latest version comes from Fredrik Malmberg and Mark Wheeler’s Pathfinder Media, as part of an overall deal between Netflix and Conan Properties International, which is owned by Malmberg’s other company, Cabinet Entertainment. Much like the previous deal that Netflix did with The C.S. Lewis Company and The Roald Dahl Story Company for access to all their novels, this contract would give Netflix the exclusive option to create films, tv shows and animated series based on all of Robert E. Howard’s Conan work.
There are currently no writers, showrunners, or directors attached to the project, so the search is now on for people to helm the project. Malmberg and Wheeler, who previously produced the wonderfully bonkers ‘Blood Drive’, would serve as exec producers. We’ll let you know if we hear more about the project moving forward.
