Producer: Xena Is Gay in ‘Warrior Princess’ Reboot

Longtime fans have speculated for years, but a producer of the upcoming Xena: Warrior Princess reboot has confirmed: Xena is gay in the new series.

In a post on Tumblr, the reboot’s screenwriter and executive producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach confirmed that Xena (played in the ’90s by Lucy Lawless) would finally fully explore the not-so-subtle lesbian relationship she had with her sidekick Gabrielle (played in the original series by Renee O’Connor).

“[T]here 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,” Grillo-Marxuach wrote. “[I]t 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.”

The original series, which ran for six seasons between 1995 and 2001, featured plenty of tender moments between its two female co-leads.

In fact, the series ends with one last kiss between Xena and Gabrielle.

In a 2003 interview with Lesbian News, Lawless said that despite never having been explicitly mentioned on the show, her character was “definitely” gay, and the series’ final scene was proof.

“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,” Lawless said then. “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.’”

Grillo-Marxuach’s Tumblr post came in response to a fan who had asked whether the lesbian character on one of the producer’s other TV shows, The 100, had influenced the writing process on Xena.

LGBT fans of the popular CW show were left outraged after fan-favorite lesbian character Lexa was suddenly killed off in an episode earlier this month.