If you’ve spent any time at all watching Xena: Warrior Princess in your days or have been a fan taking part in online debates, the question of Xena’s sexuality is definitely an issue you’ve discussed. It’s one of those little aspects of the show that was never explicitly stated, but always hinted at. It was so strong, Lucy Lawless noted her belief that the character was gay during an interview with Lesbian News in 2003.
Now with the reboot coming, speculation would be high to see how the issue would be tackled. But with much surprise, no speculation will be needed. As covered over at Vanity Fair, Xena and Gabrielle will indeed be lovers on the new reboot. Javier Grillo-Marxuach confirmed it during a Tumblr Q&A:
I am a very different person with a very different world view than my employer on the 100 — and my work on the 100 was to use my skills to bring that vision to life. Xena will be a very different show made for very different reasons. 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 in first-run syndication in the 1990s. 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.
Now as Lucy Lawless notes in the Sirius interview below, the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle was not what the show was about. Combined with how different TV was at that point, making a major part of the show likely wasn’t in the cards. Now that serialized television is a way of life and we see entire seasons devoted to the arc of a character and their relationships with other characters, it makes sense to make this aspect a part of their background.
(Via Vanity Fair / Javier Grillo-Marxuach)
