Conan the Barbarian live-action series is coming to Netflix

(Image credit: Universal Pictures)

Conan the Barbarian is getting a live-action Netflix series, reports Deadline

Conan, the legendary character created by Robert E. Howard in the '30s, has famously been portrayed on the big screen by both Arnold Schwarzenegger in the '80s and Jason Momoa in 2011. While Momoa's film was not particularly well-received, 1982's Conan the Barbarian earned a sequel: Conan the Destroyer. There was a third movie planned for Schwarzenegger's Conan, titled Conan the Conqueror, but it sadly never came to be. 

So far, there are only two producers tied to the upcoming Conan Netflix project – Fredrik Malmberg and Mark Wheeler. Malmberg's Cabinet Entertainment owns Conan Properties International, and Deadline reports this deal gives Netflix exclusive options to acquire rights to the complete Conan library and create movies or TV series, both animated and live-action. A Conan the Adventurer animated series and spin-off ran in the early nineties, as well as an action-adventure series shortly after. Conan has also spawned hundreds of novels, thousands of comics, video games, and more. According to Deadline, a Conan drama series was in development at Amazon two years ago, but that has clearly fallen through.

The upcoming Conan Netflix series is currently looking for writers and directors, so it's in incredibly early stages. Now's the time for us all to put our ideal Conan casting in the hat. Momoa likely won't take another stab at it, although he's a great choice on paper. I'm all for Lovecraft Country's Jonathan Majors, who wears no shirt very well.

We've no idea when we'll get the Netflix Conan series, but we do know about a ton of other good TV. Check out our list of new TV shows coming your way in 2020 and beyond. And while you wait for Conan, check out the best Netflix shows available right now.

Alyssa Mercante

Alyssa Mercante is an editor and features writer at GamesRadar based out of Brooklyn, NY. Prior to entering the industry, she got her Masters's degree in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Newcastle University with a dissertation focusing on contemporary indie games. She spends most of her time playing competitive shooters and in-depth RPGs and was recently on a PAX Panel about the best bars in video games. In her spare time Alyssa rescues cats, practices her Italian, and plays soccer.