The new version of Conan is still happening it would seem, but without Brett Ratner at the helm. That may be good news to some of you, and it may be bad, personally a Conan film might have had a strong take with Ratner, but that could be academic.

Or could it? There's a chance that he could come back to the project should the film be delayed, and right now the start date is looking quite tight.

Joe Gatta, the producer of Red Sonja, Conan and Hercules declared that Brett Ratner had left the project due to timing issues.

“We’re currently in the process of hiring a director...For the past six months we were discussing the movie with Brett Ratner, and for more timing issues than anything else we had to part ways with Brett. We all wanted him to do it, believe me; just the timing didn’t work. But you never know what can happen.”

The article in Empire goes on to say that the start date of August is still in the calendar for the producer, so that means they'll have to get hiring quick so that the new director can get up to speed, and if that doesn't happen quickly enough they could be looking at a delay. With a delay comes an opportunity once again for Brett Ratner.

He also reveals that there's still no Conan cast, so there will be open casting sessions for all those of you who are serious body-builders and serious actors.

I'm also interesting in the fact that the producer says Conan is the main film for the production company and that Red Sonja is second on their list. That's interesting, I wonder then how much more they are going to invest in Conan talent wise?

Perhaps if Terminator Salvation turns out as good as the footage is suggesting they might try for McG? What do you think? Who should really direct Conan? An action director or someone with a more dramatic slant? Big name, small name?