It was never outright stated that our ’90s childhood icon Xena: Warrior Princess was gay, but plenty of subtext was given to those who watched the series religiously. Well, Xena will definitely be gay in the reboot.
This time around, there won’t be any suggestiveness about Xena’s (Lucy Lawless) relationship with her sheroic partner Gabrielle (Renee O’Connor). Xena will for sure be openly gay in the series, according to executive producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach.
“There is no reason to bring back Xena if it is not there for the purpose of fully exploring a relationship that could only be shown subtextually [sic] in first-run syndication in the 1990s,” Javier Grillo-Marxuach wrote in a Tumblr response. “It will also express my view of the world—which is only further informed by what is happening right now—and is not too difficult to know what that is if you do some digging.”
Fans pretty much came to the gay conclusion on their own—see this video of Xena and Gabrielle’s intimate moments. And their chemistry is the only thing I remember about the show as a regular viewer, other than a lot of sword fights.
Newsweek cites a 2003 interview with Lesbian News, where Lawless describes Xena as “definitely” gay: “There was always a ‘Well, she might be or she might not be’ but when there was that drip of water passing between their lips in the very final scene, that cemented it for me,” says Lawless. “Now it wasn’t just that Xena was bisexual and kinda liked her gal pal and they kind of fooled around sometimes, it was ‘Nope, they’re married, man.’”
Article | Clove Hope for Jezebel
