The classic 1990s fantasy show Xena: Warrior Princess ran for six seasons from 1995 to 2001 and built a huge fan base around the world. The series followed Lucy Lawless as Xena, a former warlord trying to fix her past mistakes, and Renee O’Connor as Gabrielle, a farm girl who became a warrior and her closest friend.
After the show ended, rumors spread about a possible spin-off series focused on Gabrielle. O’Connor recently spoke about those plans and explained exactly why the spin-off never moved forward.
Renee O’Connor Could Not Imagine Doing A Show Without Lucy Lawless
The bond between Xena and Gabrielle was the heart of the original series. Fans loved watching their friendship grow over 134 episodes. When talk of a Gabrielle spin-off started circling, O’Connor thought deeply about whether she wanted to continue playing her character alone.
Speaking with CBR, O’Connor shared that she heard the rumors while the original show was still on air.
“Towards the end of our show, there was a rumor going around that there would be a Gabrielle spinoff. And I kept hearing it. Not necessarily through the media, but it was going on through all of our worlds here in New Zealand.”
She explained that executive producer Rob Tapert confirmed to her that there were actual discussions happening about a Gabrielle-centered show. But O’Connor had a clear reason for turning it down.
“But at the time. I could not imagine having a show that didn’t have both the characters together. It’s one of the reasons I also love the show. I just understand the chemistry between the ladies, and the sense of humor they have, and the love… I could not imagine a Xena world without Xena. I mean, come on.”
O’Connor passed on the spin-off because she felt the magic of the show came from both characters being together. She did not want to make Xena: Warrior Princess content that only featured one half of the team.
The Failed 2015 Reboot Attempt And Current Status
The Gabrielle spin-off was not the only attempt to bring the franchise back. In 2015, NBC started working on a reboot of Xena: Warrior Princess. The network brought in writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach to develop the project. Original producers Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi were also on board.
NBC president Jennifer Salke later confirmed the reboot had stopped moving forward. She told The Hollywood Reporter that the material they looked at did not make them feel a reboot was needed. She did not completely close the door, saying she would never say never because the show has so many loyal fans. But she made it clear that the current version of the reboot was finished.
Grillo-Marxuach left the project in 2017 because of creative differences. After his departure, NBC canceled the reboot plans entirely.
What Fans Think About A Possible Return
Many fans still want to see Xena: Warrior Princess come back in some form. Social media posts from supporters show that people continue to talk about the show decades after it ended. Some fans have shared that the chemistry between Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor was special and hard to recreate.
One fan on Tumblr described the pair as lightning in a bottle, saying that the connection between the two actresses felt natural and effortless. They noted that the show’s creators did not originally plan for Xena and Gabrielle to be more than friends, but the strong bond between Lawless and O’Connor made it happen on screen.
In a 2025 interview with 9Honey Celebrity, O’Connor said she has said yes to a reboot for years. But she admitted she does not know what it would look like for her to play a role in a bigger picture version of Xena. She sent her best wishes to anyone who tries to bring the story back, hoping for a compelling story with strong female characters.
How Xena Changed Television
Xena: Warrior Princess started as a villain on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. The character was only supposed to appear in three episodes and was meant to die at the end. But viewers responded so strongly to Xena that producers decided to keep her alive and give her own show.
Co-creator Rob Tapert said at the time that there were not many female superhero shows on television. Bionic Woman and Cagney & Lacey were two of the biggest female-driven shows, but they had not repeated well in syndication. Studio executives warned Tapert that female heroes did not work well on TV, but he moved forward anyway.
Lucy Lawless got the role after other actresses turned it down. She was a local actor in New Zealand when she was asked to dye her hair black and take on the part. The show went on to become more popular than Hercules and changed how TV networks thought about female-led action series.
The show also had a major impact on LGBTQ+ representation in mainstream media. Many viewers saw the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle as more than friendship, and the show became an important touchstone for fans looking for queer representation on television.
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Where The Franchise Stands Now
As of April 2026, no new Xena: Warrior Princess projects are in active production. The Gabrielle spin-off remains shelved because O’Connor did not want to make it without Lawless. The 2015 reboot is also dead.
However, the show’s 30th anniversary happened on September 4, 2025. Around that time, Rob Tapert told Entertainment Weekly that he and others were trying to launch a new version of Xena. He made it clear that any new version would not star Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor. Instead, it would be a reimagining of the universe, similar to what Star Trek has done.
Tapert said he had been a reluctant participant in reboot talks for years because he felt he had already told all the stories he wanted to tell. He did not want to recast Lawless and O’Connor at first. But 30 years after the show first aired, he said he is now interested in doing a new version. He promised that fans would see a script somewhere in the next few months, but he did not know exactly when or where the project would land.
For now, Xena: Warrior Princess lives on through reruns, streaming platforms, and the memories of fans who still talk about the warrior and her best friend more than two decades after the final episode.
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