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Back in 2020, Variety reported on the sweeping deal that put Netflix in charge of the Conan the Barbarian franchise. The streamer struck a bargain with Conan Properties International and its parent company Cabinet Entertainment, as well as Pathfinder Media — the company that incorporates aspects of Conan’s lore and the Hyborian Age into its tabletop role-playing games. Netflix never announced any big plans, but the news had fans eager to hear more.
Sadly, nothing ever came of the deal, but Rodriguez revealed that he had pitched his own ideas for Conan to Netflix. He said that he wanted to make a trilogy of films faithfully adapting Robert E. Howard’s original stories, but he never heard back. He even discussed the project with James Cameron, and he felt like it was a rare chance to take on this legendary setting.
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“Netflix had it. I went and pitched it to them. And they then… they let the rights lapse. Sometimes it’s too much baggage for a character,” he said. Rodriguez said that there is a lot to love in Jason Momoa’s 2011 Conan movie, but in general, “No one has captured the spirit of Conan from the books yet.”
Howard created a vast setting and internal mythology for his fantasy stories known as the Hyborian Age, which was a fictionalized version of earth’s ancient past. Conan was one of his primary heroes for these stories. The descendant of an Atlantean adventurer, he became a warrior, a wandering hero, and eventually, a king. Howard was just 30 years old when he passed away, but other authors continued writing about Conan and the Hyborian Age, while Howard is generally credited as the father of the swords-and-sorcery subgenre.
At the time of this writing, The 1982 film adaptation of Conan the Barbarian is streaming on AMC+, while the 2011 version is available to rent or purchase digitally on PVOD stores. There’s no word on what’s next for the Cimmerian warrior.
