If Crom has anything to say about it, it looks like a Netflix series based on Robert E. Howard’s adventures of Conan will make their way to the small screen soon.
Fredrik Malmberg and Mark Wheeler’s Pathfinder Media (according to Deadline), will attempt to bring the loin-cloth wearing Cimmerian back to prominence in a deal struck between Netflix and Conan Properties International (also owned by Malmberg’s Cabinet Entertainment). The deal “…gives Netflix the exclusive option to acquire rights to the Conan literary library and develop works across TV and film, both live-action and animated.”
There is currently no writer, showrunner, or director attached to the project, but Malmberg and Wheeler will serve as executive producers on the potential series.
Conan has appeared in film and television over the last four decades with varying degrees of financial and critical success. The character was brought to life initially by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian (and the underwhelming sequel Conan the Destroyer in 1984). Jason Momoa attempted to ignite a new franchise in 2011 (also produced by Malmberg), but the reboot never graduated from the wheel of pain (unless you ask the financiers, who felt plenty of pain when their film grossed $21 million domestically, falling far short of the $90 million budget).
On television, the Conan the Adventurer animated series and spinoff Conan and the Young Warriors aired from 1992-94. A cringe-inducing live action series debuted and ended in 1997 (starring by Ralf Möller as the Teutonic warrior), effectively burying the property for more than a decade.
Two years ago, a Conan series came close to getting off the ground at Amazon (from Ryan Condal, Miguel Sapochnik, Warren Littlefield, Pathfinder Media and Endeavor Content) but the project never came to fruition, paving the way for the Netflix series. Long-gestating rumors surroundings Schwarzenegger’s return to the character as King Conan have been circulating since the 1990’s. For true blue Conan fans, the likelihood of the original cinematic Conan’s return to the Netflix series is about as unlikely as James Earl Jones’ Thulsa Doom making a comeback.
Stay tuned to Conskipper for more Conan news and keep pondering the riddle of steel before you fall asleep at night.