Lucy Lawless Comments on Possible Xena: Warrior Princess Reboot

Despite reports of a Xena: Warrior Princess being in the works for years, original Xena star Lucy Lawless suggests those efforts to bring the show back may have hit a wall. Lawless has been out supporting her role in the new animated fantasy film The Spine of Night. Speaking to ScreenRant, the subject of a Xena reboot came up. Lawless says that there have been attempts but, thus far, they haven't been able to find a way to improve on the original series. And who wants to bother with a reboot if it isn't taking what was good about the original series and making it better? 

"You know what? They have tried. They can't find a way to write it better," Lawless says. "That's the truth. They have struggled and tried. Lots of people have tried, but they all get to the end and go, 'This is not going to be -- ' [If] it can't be as good or better than the original, why would you do it? That appears to be the sticking point. But, who knows? There's going to come along a fresh talent who is going to strike the right way to do it."

That last bit of confidence echoes what Lawless told ComicBook.com in August. At the time, Lawless seemed more confident that a Xena reboot would happen than ever.

"I see it [happening] more this month than I did three years ago, because I think there was a new crop of people who aren't bound by the past," Lawless said. "It might be helpful to -- I'm going to leave that thought alone because somebody else, somebody pitched me the idea the other day that's really smart. So there are new people coming up who are going to be able to reimagine it for a new generation. It will be utterly different, but it will be cool. And yes, I do. I do foresee that that person is coming."

Xena: Warrior Princess spun out of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Created by John Schulian and Robert Tapert, Lawless starred as Xena and Renee O'Connor as Xena's companion Gabrielle. The show ran for six seasons from 1995 through 2001, totaling 134 episodes of fantasy adventure. It's the kind of episodic, fun, campy adventure show not seen often in the era of heavily serialized genre television and big-budget crossovers. The show remains a cult favorite today. NBC had been moving forward with a Xena reboot before scrapping those plans in 2017. However, it sounds like NBC is still exploring the possibility in some capacity.

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