”;Know, O Prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of. Hither came Conan the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandled feet.”; —The Nemedian Chronicles

Or so noted Robert E. Howard in “;The Phoenix on the Sword,”; one of the many Conan the Barbarian adventures penned by the lonely fantasy writer before he committed suicide in 1936. Despite Howard's boundless, wild imagination, he kept returning to his best-known literary creation, a brawling, no-nonsense wild man of a “;Hyborian Age”; now lost to history. Conan lived on beyond Howard, starring in countless pulp novels, comic books and a couple of movies starring Arnold Schwarzenegger a quarter-century ago.

And now the barbarian is headed back toward the big screen, starring Hawaii's Jason Momoa as Conan. We'd love to show you Momoa as Conan, and sooner or later pictures will surely come, but for now we'll just post Momoa's face on a classic Earl Norem comic-book cover for Marvel.

Momoa created a fan-boy sensation as alien warrior Ronan Dex in the SyFy series “;Stargate Atlantis,”; a role that required both gruff physicality and sly humor. It confirmed Momoa as an actor to be reckoned with, more so than the pretty-boy roles he had in “;North Shore”; and “;Baywatch”; series. If the movie is a success, it could be Momoa's breakthrough, like “;Scorpion King”; was for Dwayne “;The Rock”; Johnson.

“;Conan”; began filming last month in remote locations in Bulgaria, a major reason you're not seeing many paparazzo images of Momoa flexing his “;mighty thews,”; as Howard used to write.

The film is directed by Marcus Nispel, who helmed recent “;Texas Chainsaw Massacre”; and “;Friday the 13th”; reboots. Nispel's grim 2007 “;Pathfinder,”; however, which pitted Vikings against Indians, shows he knows his way around sweaty swordplay and artfully composed cinematography.

The cast initially included Mickey Rourke as Conan's father, Corin, who was replaced by barbarian movie stalwart Ron “;Hellboy”; Perlman when Rourke dropped out for a different sword-and-sandal movie. Another last-minute twist was a character played by Rose McGowan, which was changed from male to female when McGowan was signed. Stephen Lang, fresh from “;Avatar,”; is the chief baddie, Khalar Singh.

As Conan's love interest, Rachel Nichols—you might remember her as the green-skinned Gaila in last year's “;Star Trek”; movie, or red-tressed Scarlett in “;G.I. Joe”;—is on board as a fierce bodyguard named Tamara. Other curvy actresses in “;Conan”; include Gisella Marengo as a witch and Laila Rouass as Conan's mother.

Ironically, McGowan turned down the lead in a planned reboot of “;Red Sonja”;—another Robert E. Howard character—for this project. It's hard to forget McGowan as the lady with a machine gun for a leg in “;Grindhouse.”;

A Bulgarian journalist recently visited the set and reported that Momoa and others were engrossed in reading Howard's original Conan tales. So at least they're going back to the source for inspiration.

We'll keep you posted on Momoa and “;Conan.”;