{"id":120746,"date":"2025-09-05T13:25:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T13:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/120746\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T13:25:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T13:25:21","slug":"xena-warrior-princess-gabrielle-actress-renee-oconnor-answers-the-one-question-fans-have-been-asking-for-decades-were-xena-and-gabrielle-a-couple-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/120746\/","title":{"rendered":"Xena Warrior Princess Gabrielle actress Renee O’Connor answers the one question fans have been asking for decades | Were Xena and Gabrielle a couple? | Exclusive"},"content":{"rendered":"

For decades, there’s been one question fans have been asking about the hit series Xena: Warrior Princess<\/a> \u2013 were Xena and Gabrielle a couple on the show?<\/p>\n

Since the show started airing 30 years ago back in 1995, \ufeffquestions have floated around the true nature of their relationship. They were seen as close friends and confidants, and empowered women in their own right.<\/p>\n

And \ufeffnow, Renee O’Connor, who played the role of her travelling companion Gabrielle, has given her own perspective during an interview with 9honey Celebrity.<\/p>\n

Watch the video above.\ufeff<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Sydney Sweeney’s awkward response to clip that shocked the world<\/a><\/p>\n

\"LucyFor decades, \ufeffquestions have been around the true nature of Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship in Xena: Warrior Princess. (Renaissance Pictures\/ via YouTube\/@HerculesXena)<\/p>\n

The talented American actress, producer and director, 54, discussed the iconic characters of Xena (portrayed by Kiwi actress Lucy Lawless) and her own character of Gabrielle in the hit fantasty show and how their relationship was portrayed on-screen.<\/p>\n

“While we were filming, the question of, ‘How do we label this relationship?’ would come up, mostly from the media asking those questions,” O’Connor says ahead of her visit to Australia to greet fans at Oz Comic-Con in Sydney and Brisbane this month.<\/p>\n

Some die-hard fans have said for years there is a subtext, or underlying meaning, in the episodes.<\/p>\n

But she says at the time of filming, they never had an “agenda”.\ufeff<\/p>\n

“…We didn’t have a political agenda, we didn’t have a sense of trying to share a sexual intimacy on screen,” she explains.<\/p>\n

“It’s funny, because what we actually worked on is the truthfullness and the love in the relationship.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Sarah Michelle Gellar on raising her family, a Buffy reboot and her marriage\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Renee“It’s funny, because what we actually worked on is the truthfullness and the love in the relationship.” (Renaissance Pictures\/ via YouTube\/@HerculesXena)<\/p>\n

“So because that was so honest and so vulnerable, it made sense to hold each other, to have some physical contact and a really loving openness and vulnerability, that fortunately people could find in their own life as a need or a desire and it would resonate with them.<\/p>\n

“I’m just really grateful that both Lucy and I just found the love without any cloud of politics or anything that was going on at the time.”<\/p>\n

She says in different countries, they did edit out some scenes that might have been dubbed as romantic.<\/p>\n

The star said that their relationship was “open to fan intepretation” for sure, and now, years later, she looks back on it differently. \ufeff<\/p>\n

“While we were filming, absolutely, it was open to fan interpretation,” she says.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘Can’t get my brain around it’: Jameela’s fear as body image standards go ‘backwards<\/a><\/p>\n

\"LucyThe star said that their relationship was “open to fan intepretation” for sure. (Albert L. Ortega\/WireImage)<\/p>\n

“After Xena finished and Lucy and I had enough time to slow down and really look at the scenes and look at the characters and how nuanced and connected these two people were, we both say… absolutely, they’re married. \ufeff<\/p>\n

“Shouldn’t we be thankful they found each other, you know?” she adds with a laugh.<\/p>\n

She says that at things like fan events and conventions, often fans come up to her and share their experiences of “discovering that they were gay, discovering perhaps that they were alone and bullied\ufeff” and revealing how the show resonated with them.<\/p>\n

Commenting on how it’s been 30 years since the iconic series first aired, O’Connor says she still feels \ufeffquite connected to the show.<\/p>\n

“I still feel such a kinship towards my affinity for being on the show, for the wonderul people I was able to work with, especially Lucy and Rob Tapert (the show’s co-creator) and I do not take for granted the opportunity right now to reflect back on the show and know how important this story was,” she adds.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ReneeIt’s been 30 years since the iconic show first aired, and she says she still feels \ufeffquite connected to the show. (Instagram\/@realreneeoconnor)<\/p>\n

“Eventually Xena was in 150 countries, If I really think about it and slow down, it’s shocking, I can’t \ufeffbelieve I was part of something such as Xena,” she muses.<\/p>\n

And her bond with Lawless, 57, is still going strong, despite being oceans apart. Lawless is based in New Zealand, where the show was filmed.\ufeff<\/p>\n

“In my ideal world I would see her more frequently,” O’Connor says.<\/p>\n

“I am a fan of her as a person, of her work ethic, her sense of fairness and practicality and honesty, all wrapped as one person, when she works with each person on a set… she is very strong at the same time, she is hilarious.”<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Books that are being turned into movies and TV shows in 2019<\/p>\n

Sharing some moments from filming and behind-the-scenes, O’Connor, who is the founder and artistic director of House of Bards Theatre company, reveals just how much detail went into the costumes on the fantasy show.<\/p>\n

She says that they had even had a dresser that helped them and the costume designer.<\/p>\n

“We had a dresser, an actual dresser that would make sure every detail \u2013 it could be 20 items \u2013 were placed precisely as our costume designer had intended,” she reveals.<\/p>\n

\"Lucy She reveals just how much detail went into the costumes on the fantasy show. (Renaissance Pictures)<\/p>\n

“It taught me to appreciate the levels of creativity that goes into any production that makes it unique and standalone, especially in the fantasy world.”<\/p>\n

She also hopes that new viewers can watch the show and have a laugh, as the cast and crew had a lot of fun on set and making the show.<\/p>\n

“We never took ourselves seriously. Right. And I think that that’s part of the appeal, is people can watch the show and just, you know, laugh at us,” she adds.<\/p>\n

The dates of Oz Comic-Con are listed below:\ufeff<\/p>\n

Oz Comic-Con Brisbane<\/p>\n

September 13th and 14th, 2025<\/p>\n

Oz Comic-Con Sydney<\/p>\n

September 20th and 21st, 2025. Website here.<\/a><\/p>\n

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE<\/a>: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For decades, there’s been one question fans have been asking about the hit series Xena: Warrior Princess \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-120746","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}