Conan the Barbarian TV series coming to Amazon Prime
By Shawn Lealos
Amazon Prime continues to stock up on original series and announced they are bringing Conan the Barbarian to their streaming service.
Amazon already announced last year that they won the bid to make a TV series based on Lord of the Rings and it looks like they are doubling down on the fantasy fare. Amazon does not rely on original programming to sell their Prime service, with most subscribers using the service for the free two-day shipping.
However, Amazon Prime has worked hard to build up their original offerings anyway, including The Man in the High Castle, Transparent and Bosch. Now, Amazon Prime will try to compete with HBO for the fans of Game of Thrones with both Lord of the Rings and Conan the Barbarian.
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Deadline reported that Amazon Prime will develop an original series based on the Robert E. Howard creation. Ryan Condal (Colony) will run the series alongside Warren Littlefield (Fargo). In bigger news, director Miguel Sapochnik (Game of Thrones) is also onboard from the start.
The new Amazon Prime TV series will re-tell the origin story of Conan the Barbarian. A lot of fans may know the story based on the Arnold Schwarzenegger movies (and to a lesser extent the Jason Momoa movie). However, this series will reportedly ignore those films and tell a brand-new story based on the source material by Howard.
This news likely will kill the long-standing rumors of Arnold Schwarzenegger returning as King Conan for another movie in his lineage as the warrior. At the same time that the Arnold rumors were going strong, a Legend of Conan TV series was also rumored. Amazon Prime was able to win this race for the warrior.
Conan the Barbarian debuted in pulp fashion in 1932 for Wierd Tales magazine. The story took place in the Hyborian Age after the destruction of Atlantis but before the rise of ancient civilizations. Conan was born on a battlefield during a giant battle, a mixed-blood child that grew up to be a warrior starting in his teens. Through his life, he was a warrior, a mercenary, a thief, a hero and, eventually, a King.
Next: Ian McKellen wants to reprise his role as Gandalf in Amazon’s Lord of the Rings
Amazon Prime now has the rights to Conan the Barbarian, and we will have more information about the series when it becomes available.