Arnold Schwarzenegger says King Conan is officially moving forward, with the long-awaited Conan the Barbarian sequel expected to begin filming in 2027. The actor confirmed the update while speaking to TheArnoldFans, calling the project “a reality now” after years of publicly pushing to revisit the sword-and-sorcery franchise.
“Next year we are going to do King Conan,” Schwarzenegger said, per People. “That is a reality now, and I am excited about it.” The film would bring him back to one of his defining early roles more than four decades after he starred in 1982’s Conan the Barbarian and its 1984 follow-up, Conan the Destroyer.
The sequel is being positioned as a later-life chapter for Conan, now a ruler who has grown older, more comfortable, and more vulnerable. Schwarzenegger said the timing actually works in the movie’s favor because the story needed Conan to age.
“He is no longer in the shape he was from his heyday, and now people are trying to take him out,” he said. “He's the king, and he gets a little bit complacent. He's tired of the job, and he wants to move on.”
Christopher McQuarrie, who directed the four most recent Mission: Impossible films, has been confirmed to write and direct King Conan. Schwarzenegger said he wanted the project handled by someone who understood Robert E. Howard’s original character and Frank Frazetta’s fantasy artwork, whose imagery helped define Conan’s larger cultural footprint.
He also said he would like the original Conan the Barbarian director, John Milius, involved as a producer.
The character of Conan first appeared in Howard’s pulp stories in Weird Tales in 1932 before expanding into comics, novels, television, video games, and film. Schwarzenegger’s 1982 version remains the most recognizable screen interpretation and helped turn the former bodybuilder into a bankable action star before The Terminator made him a global fixture.
Schwarzenegger compared the new movie’s tone to Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, describing it as a story about an aging warrior pulled back into conflict. “It will be a lot like that, but it will be with extraordinary battles,” he said.
The King Conan update also comes as Schwarzenegger has teased possible returns to other classic action franchises, including Predator and Commando.
