Director Robert Rodriguez reveals the doomed status of the Netflix Conan the Barbarian series

Netflix no longer has Conan the Barbarian's rights. In a recent podcast appearance on Joe Rogan's show, director Robert Rodriguez revealed that the proposed live-action Conan the Barbarian adaptation would not be happening. Netflix had previously acquired the rights to produce a Conan the Barbarian series, but according to Rodriguez, those rights have since expired.

Rodriguez, who envisioned a trilogy for Conan, explained that he was one of the people who made pitches to Netflix when they owned the rights. He shared that his take on the character involved three various phases: Conan as a thief, a mercenary, and a buccaneer, and ultimately as a king. Netflix did not progress past the development phase, though.

"Netflix had it," Rodriguez said to Rogan.

"I went and pitched it to them. And then they let the rights lapse."

With that, dreams of a Netflix-sponsored Conan the Barbarian series are now over.

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Rodriguez's vision: A Conan trilogy that never happened

Rodriguez had grand ambitions for the universe of Conan the Barbarian. In the interview with Joe Rogan, he explained that the long-time dream was to make a trilogy of movies covering various chapters of Conan's life.

"I was gonna do a trilogy: Conan the thief, Conan the buccaneer and mercenary, and Conan the king," he explained.

He even approached filmmaker James Cameron to team up.

"I even wrote Jim Cameron and wanted to do it. We were gonna do kind of like what we did with Alita. I said, ‘Dude, let’s do a Conan movie and we’ll make it look like the paintings.’ Technology wasn’t there yet."

His approach was based on bringing the essence of the original Robert E. Howard novels.

"No one has captured the spirit of Conan from the books yet," Rodriguez said.

He also had praise for Jason Momoa, stating he has been "the best on-screen Conan to date."

Even with his passion, Rodriguez said Netflix ultimately declined the project.

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What happened with Netflix's Conan the Barbarian series?

Netflix initially made its intentions to produce a Conan the Barbarian series public in September 2020. The streaming platform had optioned the rights at the time and was said to be looking for a showrunner to develop the series.

Rodriguez verified that he was among the creatives who came up with ideas at that time. The project never moved beyond the development stage, though. In Rodriguez's words,

"Netflix had it… and then they let the rights lapse."

Rodriguez hypothesized that the difficulty of transposing such a popular character might have determined Netflix not to do it.

"Sometimes it’s too much baggage for a character," Rodriguez explained to Rogan.

The initial announcement had a buzz among the fans, yet, as is the case with projects in the early stages, production did not result from development. By the time Rodriguez mentioned it in 2025, the project had long been shelved in the quietest of manners.

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Rodriguez on We Can Be Heroes and Netflix's current focus

Although the Conan project did not pan out, Rodriguez has had success with Netflix previously. He has directed We Can Be Heroes, which came out in 2020 and which he co-created with his children through their company, Double R Productions.

"I was working with my kids, and we created a company called Double R [Productions]" Rodriguez stated.

"Later, Netflix approached me and asked, ‘Could you make us a Spy Kids-type thing? Those always do well."

The result was We Can Be Heroes.

"My kids helped write it with me," he clarified.

"It ended up becoming the most-watched and rewatched movie in Netflix history. Nothing even comes close — kids just can’t stop watching it"

The film remains in 10th place in Netflix's all-time top-watched list. Alone, between 2023 and 2024, it attracted 200.90 million hours of viewership, or approximately 119.40 million views. That showing has made the film remain relevant despite newer titles.

When questioned what type of content Netflix currently desires, Rodriguez responded,

"If you ask Netflix right now, what kind of movies do they need? They’ll say action, action, action. We don’t have enough action."

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Robert Rodriguez confirmed that Netflix is no longer developing a Conan the Barbarian series because the rights have expired. His original intention was to make a trilogy that charted Conan's arc from thief to king, but it never went forward. As of now, Conan the Barbarian remains without a confirmed series or film adaptation, and Netflix is focused on delivering more action films.