Are you ready to return to the Hyborian Age? In one of the most “DUH, of course” announcements in recent memory, The Wrap is reporting the animation legend Genndy Tartakovsky, together with Cartoon Network Studios, is bringing a new Conan the Barbarian series to Prime Video. The announcement happened via video message at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. The creator behind highly stylized action cartoons like Primal, Samurai Jack, and the original Clone Wars, once pitched a Conan series in 2008. But nearly twenty years later, Tartakovsky will finally bring the Cimmerian warrior to animation.
Robert E. Howard’s sword and sorcery hero has been the subject of countless adaptations. We’re talking novels, comic books, and even an iconic movie or two, for nearly a century. But it’s been some time since he’s led a high-profile project such as this. According to the official synopsis, “After finding love in the pirate queen, Bêlit, a battle-hardened Conan defies gods, fate, and even death to save her from a dark sorcery that threatens to destroy everything.” The death of Conan’s love, Bêlit was a defining story in Marvel’s seminal Conan the Barbarian run of the 1970s.
It will be some time before we see this new Conan show hit Prime Video, however. Animation takes time. And Tartakovsky said that maybe next year he’d be able to share some animatics at the festival. And maybe the year after that, some rough animation. He may have been overdoing it for comedic effect, but we doubt we’ll see the first episode of Conan the Barbarian before 2028 at this point. But we’re quite certain, given Genndy Tartakovsky’s track record, it will rule. His series Primal was very Conan-coded. So it’s amazing that he gets to do the character who inspired so much of his aesthetic. We have a strong feeling this one will be worth wait.