Not too long ago, Amazon announced that they had entered a multi-season commitment for a Lord of the Rings television series. Now the streaming service has reportedly ordered another fantasy show based on Robert E. Howard’s Conan novels. Despite getting his start in books, comics, and pulp magazines, most mainstream audiences discovered Conan the Barbarian through the 1982 film of the same name, which turned an Austrian bodybuilder named Arnold Schwarzenegger into a movie star.
While little is known about the project as of now, there are already quite a few reasons to be excited for Amazon’s Conan series.
3. The talent involved
Although the cast hasn’t been announced yet, the talent behind the camera certainly bodes well. At the project’s helm are Warren Littlefield, who executive produced The Handmaid’s Tale and Fargo, Ryan Condal, who co-created Colony, and Miguel Sapochnik, who directed several episode of Game of Thrones, including the Emmy-winning Battle of the Bastards. Speaking of GoT, we wonder if Jason Momoa would be open to a cameo, seeing how he played Conan in the 2011 reboot.
2. There’s plenty of content to adapt from
As mentioned before, the screen incarnations of Conan have largely overshadowed the original tales that started it all. Although Robert E. Howard helped shape the sword and sorcery genre, he didn’t immediately get the recognition he deserved. Most of his Conan short stories were originally published in Weird Tales magazine. It wasn’t until years after his death that his stories were collected in several books. Since then, numerous writers have taken a stab at telling new Conan stories and even completed some of Howard’s unfinished work. Given the plethora of source material, the Amazon show could offer several seasons of rousing fantasy.
1. Some of the other versions have set the bar pretty low
As much as we love the first Schwarzenegger film, 1984’s Conan the Destroyer is a guilty pleasure at best. If it weren’t for Jason Momoa, the 2011 film would’ve been easily forgotten. Speaking of which, does anybody even remember the campy live-action television series from the 90s?
Strangely enough, the best screen incarnations of Conan outside of the 1982 film are probably the two cartoons from the early 90s, Conan the Adventurer and Conan and the Young Warriors.
Your move, Amazon!
Let us know what you think and check out our list of the Top 10 Things We Want to See in Amazon’s Lord of the Rings Series:
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