Arnold Schwarzenegger is to return to the role that launched him as a movie star in a belated third instalment of the Conan the Barbarian franchise. The original film, released in 1982 and adapted from pulpy novels by Robert E Howard, saw the then bodybuilder play the chivalric sword-wielder on a quest for revenge against James Earl Jones’ cult leader Thulsa Doom.

Spoiling for fight scenes … Schwarzenegger in 2024. Photograph: Liesa Johannssen/Reuters

Schwarzenegger, 78, whose acting work has slowed since he returned to the profession after his stint as the governor of California, announced at the Arnold sports festival in Columbus, Ohio over the weekend that director Christopher McQuarrie, best known for his work on the Mission: Impossible franchise, would take the reins on King Conan.

“It’s a great story,” he said, where after sitting on the throne for 40 years, “Conan gets complacent, and now he gets forced out of the kingdom, slowly. Then there’s conflict, of course, and then he somehow comes back, and then there’s all kinds of madness and violence and magic and creatures.

“Now, of course, you have all the special effects, and the studio system has plenty of money to make those movies really big.”

The first film made $68m and gave rise to a sequel two years later, Conan the Destroyer. A third film was planned in the late 80s, but it felt apart. A 2011 reboot starring Jason Momoa fared badly with critics and at the box office.

Schwarzenegger also revealed that he plans to make a return to the Predator series – another early signature role for the star – as well as to 1985’s Commando, in which he played a loyal yet formidable retired Green Beret soldier.

In 2019, he also returned to the Terminator franchise for the poorly received Terminator: Dark Fate. Forthcoming projects include martial arts drama Kung Fury 2, opposite Michael Fassbender, and The Man With the Bag, in which he plays a stricken Santa Claus, whose sack is stolen by a petty criminal.