One of the Best Fantasy Shows Gets a Hopeful Reboot Update (but There’s a Catch)

The TV reboot era is in full swing. Beloved shows like King of the Hill, Battlestar Galactica, and Dexter have all been brought back to life on the screen with new series years after ending. Even more are on the horizon, including Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair at Disney+, Peacock’s upcoming The Office spinoff The Paper, and Hulu’s planned Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot. Now it seems that one of the best fantasy shows of all time could be next on the reboot list as the series prepares to mark its 30th anniversary.

Xena: Warrior Princess became a pop cultural phenomenon during its six-season run from 1995 until 2001 and changed the TV landscape with its groundbreaking strong female lead, in Lucy Lawless’ Xena, sparking a series of other female-led action series in the years that followed. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly ahead of Xena’s milestone 30th anniversary on September 4, co-creator Rob Tapert confirmed that they are “trying to launch a new version of Xena.” However, he warned that it may not be exactly what fans are hoping for.

“It would not be the story of Xena and Gabrielle with Lucy and Renee [O’Connor]. It would be like they did with Star Trek, a reimagining of that universe,” he said. “Whatever it’s gonna be, it will be different, which is exciting. Thirty years later, it has to be different.”

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Tapert added that he’s “always a reluctant participant of reboots. Because I’ve done 134 episodes or whatever it is, I don’t feel like there’s a fresh series of stories that I haven’t told yet. That could be my lack of imagination, but I didn’t want to recast Lucy and Renee.” However, 30 years after Xena debuted, he said he’s now “interested in doing that.” Details of a possible reboot remain scarce, Tapert stating that he doesn’t “know when and where it is,” but he promised that “they’re gonna see a script somewhere in the next three to six months, and one can only hope.”

Why A Xena Reboot Is Needed

Xena: Warrior Princess remains one of the best shows of the ‘90s and has had a lasting impact on TV. The series centered around Lawless’ Xena, a reformed warrior princess fighting evil and freeing people from tyranny and injustice alongside her friend, O’Conner’s Gabrielle. The show become a significant part of the cultural zeitgeist at the time and established a lasting legacy by paving the way for female action heroes, exploring themes of feminism and diversity, and pioneering a deeper exploration of female relationships, ultimately having a profound impact on LGBTQ+ representation in mainstream media through Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship.

Bruce Campbell, who starred as Autolycus, King of Thieves in the series, said Xena’s “themes are very relevant to today. Loyalty, friendship, complicated relationships. Xena said it’s okay to have complicated relationships in an otherwise action-centered show.”

A reboot stands the chance of recapturing the original shows pioneering success and appealing to a new generation of TV viewers.

For now, fans will have to wait and see if a Xena reboot happens. A previous Xena reboot was in the works at NBC but failed to come to fruition. All six seasons of Xena: Warrior Princess are available to stream on Amazon’s Prime Video.