Xena Warrior Princess

Cult hit phenomenon set in ancient Greece

Xena: Warrior Princess was first broadcast in September 1995, and was produced by Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead and Spiderman movies) and Robert Tapert (future husband of Lucy Lawless) through their company Pacific Renaissance Pictures. They created the show when Universal Studios asked them for a spin off show from their successful Hercules TV franchise it was decided that the character of Xena would be the strongest concept. Xena had appeared in three episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and made quite an impact on the viewers. Hercules actor returned the favour, Kevin Sorbo appeared in a number of Xena episodes.

Xena: Warrior Princess ran from 1995 to 2001 and both at the time and since has enjoyed global success both on DVD and through reruns. on TV. The show and the character have also been spun off into video games, comic books and cartoon shows.
The show focuses on the adventures of Xena fighting evil and injustice in ancient Greece. Xena is a reformed character, in the series she is a force for good but her past is dark, she was in fact a blood soaked warlord who despite her beauty was terrible and ruthless terrorizing good and bad alike.
A couple of the episodes chronicle Xena's evolution from this evil villain to a friend and ally of Hercules. In fact the overarching plot to the series is Xena's attempt at redemption , which she hopes toe earn by fighting against tyranny and evil and protecting the innocent and weak. Rather neatly many of her adventures which occur prior to the timeline of the show are told in flashbacks.

This makes the character of Xena very different to most female leads seen at the time on primetime TV, this coupled with her ambiguous relationship with Gabrielle her "sidekick", won the character and Lawless herself a substantial gay and lesbian following. Also the show cannot help but be a little camp and is definitely played much of the time with tongue firmly in cheek.

The show filmed on location in New Zealand, used music extensively both as a plot device and as a mood setter. The theme music was so well composed, and so effective it won it's composer Joseph LoDuca a coveted Emmy in 1999 for the song "With the Angels". In fact the music was so important there were 2 musical episodes in the series; one in the third season, and another in the fifth season, and episode led to an album release.

Unfortunately there are no plans to bring back the series, Tapert and Raimi are now big time Hollywood producers with an incredible list of blockbusters to their name and Lawless (still married to Tapert) is having just finished her role of No.3 Cylon in Battlestar Galactica   is pursuing her own successful Film and TV career including the TV show role of Lucretia in the new series Spartacus:Blood & Sand which will be out in 2010. You can't keep her away from those "Swords and Sandals".

Rumours abound of a Xena movie, but so far nothing has been confirmed either by the producers or Universal.  Lucy Lawless has this to say on the subject “I think a movie would be great, and I'd love to do it. I've been wanting to do it for years. Nobody can agree who owns the rights, and it's a big fat pain in the ass.”

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