Deadline Hollywood is reporting that a decision has finally been made on who will star as Conan the Barbarian and fill the shoes once occupied by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the new Marcus Nispel remake, Conan.

Initial word indicates that Jason Momoa will be the man wielding the massive sword, after he beat out other candidates Kellan Lutz of Twilight fame, and Jared Padalecki, who starred in Nispel’s Friday the 13th reboot. Apparently the selection of an actor was close, but Nispel filmed some test footage recently with Momoa swinging a giant sword around and this was enough to wow the executives at Lionsgate, winning him the prize.

Momoa is obviously a large gentleman. He may appeal well to some of the geeks out there due to the fact that he is perhaps best recognized from his work as Ronon Dex on Stargate: Atlantis. Aside from that, he hasn’t done too much. He was on Baywatch for a while and went on to appear on North Shore (dude’s from Hawaii and likes to surf, leave him alone). In the future, along with Conan, Momoa does have another appearance as Dex in the Atlantis movie, Stargate: Extinction. He will also be showing up as Khal Drogo in the HBO pilot for Game of Thrones, which is another geek-worthy note for you George R.R. Martin fans. As we know, that pilot is looking more and more like a future full series every day now.

Another very interesting thing to note: Latino Review, who also caught wind of the Momoa casting, was informed that an offer has been extended to a one Mr. Mickey Rourke to actually play Conan’s father, Corin. If you recall in Sin City, reference is made to Rourke’s Marv character and how he was born in the wrong time, and that he would have been a god in the times of barbarism. If this offer is accepted, than Rourke will have a way to show that observation in action!