Arnold Schwarzenegger has been in the news quite a lot in the last week as he continues his promotional push for his new movies Aftermath, which is cinemas today (read our review here). And while the big Austrian is talking primarily about his new drama, some of the questions turned to both his upcoming projects and their long-gestating sequels.
With news that Schwarzenegger would bail on The Expendables franchise if Sylvester Stallone does indeed officially exit, similar sad news has come to light from screenwriter Chris Morgan (The Fate of the Furious) who has said that The Legend of Conan, the sequel that would have seen Arnold return to the title role he made famous in the early 1980’s, is dead.
Chatting with EW, the writer said that the film, which would have seen an Unforgiven-styled sequel with an old Conan, is over:
“At the end of the day, the studio decided that they weren’t gonna make that. I gotta say, it’s honestly a heartbreak. I love that first movie so much, so much, it’s one of my favorite movies. We had Will Beall do a draft on [the ‘Legend of Conan’ script]. He killed it. Our take was Conan, 30 years later, a story like the Clint Eastwood ‘Unforgiven.’ It was so awesome. Ultimately, the budget was big, the studio was not really sure of the title, and the relevance in the marketplace,” Morgan explained. “They ended up letting it go. I think they’re gonna look to do a TV show or something with it. But just to be associated with it, pitch it to Arnold, have him get so excited, there was a moment of magic for me, personally [laughs]. You never know, down the road we may revisit!”
With Conan dead, will we see Schwarzenegger turn his attention back to another long-talked about sequel, Triplets, the follow-up to 1988’s Twins? Danny DeVito seemed unsure when we spoke to him back in October, so will it ever come to fruition? Watch this space…
Aftermath is in cinemas and on-demand today.
