Played by Lucy Lawless, the titular hero of Xena: Warrior Princess was one of the first examples of powerful female characters on television. Xena first appeared for three episodes in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, but her unexpected popularity convinced the showrunners to give her a dedicated spin-off series. Xena: Warrior Princess turned out to be significantly more successful than its predecessor, which was actually canceled before the sixth and final season was complete. Meanwhile, the spin-off aired in over a hundred countries and spawned a franchise incorporating video games, comic books, and other merchandise.
Xena: Warrior Princess didn’t just surpass Hercules: The Legendary Journeys; on the contrary, it soon became one of the highest-rated syndicated programs of the 1990s. As a result, fans were delighted when rumors of a reboot began floating around in 2015, only for NBC to reveal its cancellation two years later. Regardless of potential revivals, it’s important to acknowledge that Xena: Warrior Princess concluded with one of the best series finales in television history. A two-part episode titled “A Friend in Need,” the finale was the culmination of the bond Xena and Gabrielle had developed for six seasons.
Xena Redefined Female Representation Through Feminist Optics
Lucy Lawless as Xena and Renee O’Connor as Gabrielle from Xena: Warrior Princess
Image via Universal Television
As a spin-off of the relatively successful Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess wasn’t expected to do nearly as well. The producers wanted to capitalize on the market opening up for Xena, but nobody could have predicted how much of a triumph it would become. In a way, Xena surpassing Hercules was the first sign that female-led programs could have a far bigger audience than usual. Perhaps the success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was effectively guaranteed by the precedent set by Xena: Warrior Princess, an interesting generalized example of women uplifting women. As the fiercest female warrior in the series, Xena’s existence alone set a powerful example of agency.
All things considered, however, it was Xena’s journey that painted the narrative on a feminist canvas. She wasn’t always a hero — she was one of the worst villains in ancient history, leading many equally violent armies against countless nations. Xena also traveled through the ancient versions of China and Japan, with the latter location reappearing in the series finale. Later seasons would highlight Xena’s brutal and bloody past, littered with bodies of the dead and teeming with the screams of the survivors.
Xena began her path of atonement following her encounter with Hercules, completely reinventing herself as a hero on a mission to protect the oppressed. Xena’s character arc somewhat mirrors that of Furiosa from the Mad Max franchise — both of them grew up innocent, were consequently forced into a life of death and destruction, and eventually redeemed themselves by saving others. Xena’s influence on female storytelling became more significant with each passing year, as she learned how to live a life of compassion.
That said, Xena’s blossoming relationship with Gabrielle formed one of the central frameworks of her character development. Instead of retaining Gabrielle as a side-kick, a role played by Iolaus in Hercules, Xena: Warrior Princess chose the path of romance. Fans of fantasy had gotten so used to male heroes having romantic dalliances with their female side-kicks that the Xena-Gabrielle canon ship came as a breath of fresh air. Nearly every episode furthered their journey together, usually emotionally, embedding the fact that Xena and Gabrielle would be together.
As a beacon of feminism during a time when the concept itself had no meaning, Xena challenged the patriarchal structures that held sway over her world. She was arguably the most empathetic warrior in the world because she was a woman, an admittedly aging trope that worked rather exceptionally in the 1990s. Xena, often with Gabrielle at her side, dismantled oppressive regimes and supported the slaves and peasants, ultimately proving that a true hero is both strong and kind. While there are reasonable complaints about Xena’s potentially performative feminism, especially in the context of her fan-service outfits, it’s clear that Xena: Warrior Princess inevitably transcended the boundaries of gender, sexuality, and heroism.
Xena: Warrior Princess Spawned a Thriving Cult Fandom
Xena holds aloft her iconic chakram in Xena: Warrior Princess.
Image via Universal Television
The Internet was a relatively tiny venture when Xena: Warrior Princess was on the air, preventing Xena from becoming even more popular than she was. However, a dedicated bunch of online fans maintained a digital presence for the character and the series, keeping Xena from lapsing out of pop-cultural memory. Their endeavors were not in vain, as the show soon became one of the most common pop-cultural references in media, including comics, video games, novels, and other TV programs. Innumerable tributes and homages to Xena: Warrior Princess can be found, from Seinfeld and The X-Files to The Simpsons.
Xena: Warrior Princess’ popularity soon extended to unrelated fields. The discovery of the dwarf planet UB313 and its moon in 2005 led to the two celestial objects being nicknamed Xena and Gabrielle. The discovery team initially chose Xena because the body was formerly known as Planet X, and there weren’t enough mythological Greek deities whose names started with that letter. Although the International Astronomical Union later renamed the dwarf planet Eris and the moon Dysnomia, the public had already gotten used to calling them Xena and Gabrielle. Interestingly, Dysnomia is a Greek word meaning “lawlessness,” highlighting an indirect comparison to Xena’s actor Lucy Lawless.
The earliest online fandoms sprouted some of the first fanfiction stories, with the writers being known as “bards,” after Gabrielle’s epithet as the Battling Bard of Poteidaia. Continuous fan engagement soon resulted in the term uberfic, referring to fanfiction narratives that differ temporarily or geographically from the canon. Several uberfics ended with Xena and Gabrielle becoming soulmates, hinting at what the fans wanted from the outset. Even after Xena: Warrior Princess, the fans refused to let up — they began self-profuding their own seasons that furthered the plot following Xena’s shocking death in the series finale.
A series of shipping wars took place, with the fandom divided into two main groups: those who wanted Xena and Gabrielle romantically involved, and those who perceived their relationship as exclusively platonic. This raised concerns about queer rights and the invisibilization of gay and lesbian characters in the media, who already suffered from frequent caricatures. Some fans may have exploited these concerns making the situation more heated than necessary. The shipping wars continued long after Xena: Warrior Princess had already ended, perhaps in part because the most hardcore shippers weren’t satisfied that Xena and Gabrielle were separated (by death). And yet, it was the most suitable way to bring the story to a relatively satisfying close.
Xena’s Series Finale Completed a Six-Season Journey
Xena in a kimono next to a naked Gabrielle in Xena: Warrior Princess’ series finale
Image via Universal Television
The decision to kill Xena off was met with widespread censure, with fans furious that a symbol of female empowerment would not get the happily-ever-after she deserved. Xena’s series finale, “A Friend in Need,” was not nearly as problematic as Killing Eve’s series finale. The problem doesn’t come with the death of a main character, only if that death is meaningless, like Villanelle’s was. Meanwhile, Xena: Warrior Princess maintained its trajectory of redemption until the last moments of the series, allowing Xena to genuinely transcend the usual genre conventions.
Sometimes, as the series tells us, heroes aren’t meant to survive. Fantasy storytelling has seen more deaths since the rise of Game of Thrones, but this wasn’t a very common tactic back in the ’90s. Both Hercules and Buffy lived to see their stories come to a close — Xena wasn’t given the same privilege because of the mistakes of her past. Merely saving people doesn’t constitute as redemption, particularly considering just how much damage Xena had previously caused the world. The scales of justice would never be balanced unless Xena performed the greatest sacrifice in order to rectify her equally great sins.
It’s easy to forget about a character’s crimes once they become fan-favorites — notable examples like Breaking Bad’s Walter White coasted on their intelligence and alleged commitment to family values even after some fans saw the consequences of their actions. Neither Xena: Warrior Princess nor its fandom wanted to see the protagonist dead, but Xena herself was prepared to sacrifice her life — and that’s what counted more than anything else. Besides freeing the souls of forty thousand people, Xena’s death in “A Friend in Need” pushed Gabrielle into the role she was being shaped for.
Gabrielle inherited Xena’s iconic weapon, stating her intentions to travel to Egypt, where “they need a girl with a Chakram.” The ghost of Xena, still with Gabrielle, announces that she will always be at her friend’s side. Gabrielle remarks, “I knew you’d say that” as Xena’s ghost kisses her forehead before their ship sails into the sunset. Keeping Xena’s presence after her sacrifice was a delicate balance that may not have worked for other shows, but it also took the sting off the emotional loss. As the title of “A Friend in Need” indicated, Xena and Gabrielle would never be apart as long as they relied on each other. The series finale’s bittersweetness was soothed by a tinge of hope, ending Xena: Warrior Princess on a perfectly profound note.
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Release Date
1995 – 2001-00-00
Showrunner
Sam Raimi
Directors
Sam Raimi
Writers
Sam Raimi
