The original plan had been to kill off Xena, but fate intervened.
The plan was clinched, Tapert said, when Universal execs saw footage of Xena in action.
All the stars all lined up."
However, the truth is that Lawless was far from producers' first choice during the casting process.
Ultimately, Lawless mused, she landed her big break because “everybody else turned it down.
I was the lucky local kid on the spot who got the gig.”
“I was like, ‘What about being like her?
She’s big and bronze and dark-haired.'”
Meanwhile, a second Xena costume also resides at theMuseum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
According to Lawless, actually wearing Xena’s iconic costume took some getting used to.
There was, though, one other aspect of the Xena costume to which she eventually grew accustomed.
“It was very functional, once I got over the modesty factor,” Lawless added.
One of these was Krisha, with the Hindu deityallying with Xenain her battle with a demon.
Portrayed by actorRajeev Varma, Krishna’s appearance on the show sparked outrage among Hindus.
The show’s lesbian subtext didn’t exactly help matters.
Canada’s Global TV connection actually pulled the episode, instead airing a rerun, noted the Post.
The injury was severe, resulting in multiple fractures.
It was far more violent than ‘Hercules’ was."
Later in that same interview, Sorbo offered another explanation for his antipathy toward the show.
They took half my crew!
Nearly a decade later, Sorbo slagged not just “Xena,” but star Lucy Lawless.
“She’d never admit one way or another, trust me.
“I was just so shocked to be asked if I consider myself a feminist.
Where I come from, women are just bloody strong, you know?”
she told the newspaper.
“Now I see the value of it,” she revealed.
When asked by E!
News if she thought that was a satisfying ending, star Lucy Lawless declared, “No!
Of course I don’t.”
When shooting the episode, however, Lawless felt very differently.
“At the time, we were like, ‘Oh, that’s a really strong choice.’
That is awful.”
Among the variations seen in the credits, recalledE!
Lucy Lawless caught wind of the video and offered her seal of approval.
“This is amazing!”
“You throw it out one side of the camera, it comes back the other.
It’s so reliable,” she joked, admitting she’d had her moments fumbling the weapon.
“There’d be loads of b-roll of me dropping it, missing it,” she revealed.
“Many chakram bloopers.”
Unfortunately, fans never did get to see an openly gay warrior princess.
According to Jennifer Salke, then NBC entertainment president, “Nothing is happening on ‘Xena’ right now.
We looked at some material; we decided at that point that it didn’t warrant the reboot.”
