TODAY marks the 22nd anniversary of Xena: Warrior Princess, who first came into our lives in and has remained a major part of pop culture ever since. For many, Xena was an icon of feminism, female empowerment and strength and became an icon for the LGBT community thanks to her challenging ideas of masculinity and femininity, and her relationship with sidekick Gabrielle. However Angel fell ill before she was supposed to fly to the set and Tapert eventually decided on giving Lawless the role. Source:News Corp Australia. Lucky break for us, but not so much for her. Source:News Limited.

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The series aired in first-run syndication from September 4, , to June 18, Writer-director-producer Robert Tapert created the series in under his production tag, Renaissance Pictures , with executive producers R. Stewart who developed the series along with Tapert and Sam Raimi. The series narrative follows Xena played by Lucy Lawless , an infamous warrior on a quest to seek redemption for her past sins against the innocent by using her formidable fighting skills to now help those who are unable to defend themselves.
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Aside from the anguish over — year-old spoiler alert! That friendship between Xena and Gabrielle transmitted some message of self-worth, deservedness, and honor to people who felt very marginalized, so it had a lot of resonance in the gay community. But on the creative side, there was a specific reason why it never came to fruition. We did not want to give up the hold that character had over Xena and the enjoyment we had with telling stories of Xena and Ares. So as much as we liked that Xena and Gabrielle were two people who were the best of friends, and perhaps intimate friends, we never wanted to give up Ares.
Over the course of six seasons , the two became best friends, but despite the love they obviously felt for each other, they never officially became a couple. Now we know why. Talking to Entertainment Weekly , Lawless explained what that friendship meant to the community and why:. She felt she was irredeemable. That friendship between Xena and Gabrielle transmitted some message of self-worth, deservedness, and honor to people who felt very marginalized, so it had a lot of resonance in the gay community. Executive producer and co-creator Rob Tapert opened up on the reasons why the two women never became a thing. We did not want to give up the hold that character had over Xena and the enjoyment we had with telling stories of Xena and Ares. So as much as we liked that Xena and Gabrielle were two people who were the best of friends, and perhaps intimate friends, we never wanted to give up Ares. They wanted a foil for Xena - someone who could beat her in battle, and a former mentor. The weird thing is there's sympathy for the character, because he's done terrible, terrible things and yet, at the bottom of it all, the only way this works is if you believe he truly loves Xena.