What if one of the best fantasy shows of all time was created almost by accident? It’s been known to happen — just ask Lucy Lawless and the creators of “Xena: Warrior Princess.”
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in 2025, co-creator Robert Tapert and Lawless revealed that Xena was initially only supposed to be featured in three episodes of “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys,” another great ’90s series. The original plan was to pair “Hercules” next to “Vanishing Son” as part of Universal’s “Action Pack,” but the latter flopped, and “Xena: Warrior Princess” was born.
“[W]hen they saw the Xena character in Hercules — literally in a rough cut, the roughest of rough cuts — they said, ‘Yes, we should rip ourselves off before somebody else does,'” Tapert recalled. “And so that really was the financial need at the studio.”
Tapert noted that he always wanted to make a female-fronted action series, so the opportunity excited him. That said, Lawless might never have gotten the Xena role — followed by her own spin-off — if she wasn’t in the right place at the right time.
Lucy Lawless wasn’t the original plan for Xena
Lucy Lawless wasn’t supposed to play Xena on “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.” According to Tapert, the role went to another performer, but she got sick and had to pull out at the very last minute. With time running out ahead of shooting, Tapert pitched the idea of using Lawless, even though she’d appeared in a previous episode of “Hercules.” The network executives accepted his proposal — and Lawless dyed her hair.
“I was sitting in a chair in Auckland, New Zealand, having my hair dyed dark,” Lawless told Entertainment Weekly. “And they talked about making me blonde or something, but Gabriela Sabatini was my model at the time because she was number one in the world at tennis. So I was like, ‘No, no, no, she should be bronzed and dark haired.'”
Tapert added that Lawless didn’t believe him when he first told her that a full Xena series was potentially in the works. In the end, “Xena: Warrior Princess” enjoyed a successful six-season run on the air, and the rest is history.
