100 Fun Facts About Xena: Warrior Princess

In which country was Xena: Warrior Princess filmed?

Many scenes were shot in the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park outside Auckland.

Which actress played Xena?

She was a relative unknown, and a former Mrs New Zealand, when she got the role.

Xena was a spin-off of which series?

She appeared in three episodes as a recurring character and was originally scheduled to die in the third.

Who played Gabrielle, Xena's companion?

She had impressed the producers playing Deianeira in the TV movie Hercules and the Lost Kingdom.

Which producer created the series in 1995 under his Renaissance Pictures banner?

He produced The Evil Dead with Sam Raimi and later married his star, Lucy Lawless.

Which British actress was first choice for Xena before illness stopped her travelling?

Four more actresses were offered the role before it reached Lawless.

Why did the originally cast Gabrielle, Sunny Doench, give up the part?

O'Connor, who had already appeared in Hercules in another role, took over.

What is Xena's trademark throwing weapon?

She also carries a sword, and in the 1999 PlayStation game the thrown weapon becomes a first-person guided missile.

In which ancient Greek city was Xena born?

In 2012 Lawless called it "ancient Bulgaria, Thrace"; the city was then Thracian, settled by Greeks.

Gabrielle came from which village?

Fans call her the Battling Bard of Potidaea; the series premiere, "Sins of the Past", is set there.

Who played Joxer, the show's comic relief, from the second season?

He styled himself first "Joxer the Magnificent" and later "Joxer the Mighty", despite no fighting skill at all.

Which Timaru-raised actor played Ares, god of war?

He had hoped to play rugby for the All Blacks before a concussion pushed him toward the stage.

Who played Xena's nemesis Callisto?

She also played a body-switched Xena in the episode "Intimate Stranger".

What did Xena's army do to Callisto's home village of Cirra?

Her family died in the attack, and the trauma drove her obsession with revenge.

Which future Star Trek and Lord of the Rings actor played both Cupid and Caesar?

Marton Csokas, another future Rings cast member, played Borias and Krafstar.

Which Evil Dead star played Autolycus, King of Thieves?

He also played Xena herself in one of the show's body-swap episodes.

How is Aphrodite portrayed on the show?

She uses Valley slang and wears flowing, translucent pink gowns; Ares, by contrast, wears studded black leather.

Who composed the theme and incidental music?

He earned seven Emmy nominations for the show and won for the season five episode "Fallen Angel".

The theme music was developed from a traditional folk song from which country?

"Kaval sviri" was sung by the Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir and can be heard in a Hercules episode.

What was the title of the season three musical episode?

A second musical, "Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire", followed in season five; both got soundtrack albums.

Which fourth-season episode about Hinduism drew enough controversy to need a disclaimer?

Producers added a disclaimer at the start and an explanatory tag at the end.

What was Xena's son, given to the centaurs after his father's death, called?

His father Borias died in combat against a warrior in Xena's own employ; Solan never learned she was his mother.

What did Gabrielle name the daughter she bore to the dark god Dahak?

The child aged months in days and killed within hours of her birth.

In the season four finale "The Ides of March", what happens to Xena and Gabrielle?

Caesar is betrayed and killed by Brutus in the same episode, and a mystic named Eli later revives them.

How long do Xena and Gabrielle sleep after Ares buries them in an ice cave?

Xena's daughter Eve grows up in that time to become Livia, the Champion of Rome.

Under what name is Xena's daughter Eve raised by the Roman Octavius?

She became a ruthless persecutor of Eli's followers before her mother turned her back to repentance.

What power is Xena granted after Eve's baptism?

The Twilight of the Olympian gods followed, with Ares giving up his immortality to save Eve and Gabrielle.

What does Alti's trademark stare do to her target?

For Xena that meant feeling her legs being broken and her back snapped all over again.

What did the scripts call Japan, to avoid using a modern name?

China likewise became "Chin"; the writers simply dropped the last letter of a country's name.

What name did the Italian dub give Gabrielle?

The name Gabrielle itself is the French feminine form of Gabriel, the archangel.

Which weapons does Gabrielle adopt later in the series, after her Amazon staff?

She rises from Amazon Princess to Amazon Queen along the way.

Who mainly provided Gabrielle's singing voice in the musical episodes?

O'Connor did sing the rap lead in "Gettin' Ready" and the chorus of "War" in "Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire".

In the Hercules episode "The Gauntlet", why does Xena's army turn on her?

She survived the gauntlet, the only person ever to do so, and then fought Hercules for his head.

Tapert based Xena on the "evil warrior princesses" played by which Hong Kong actress?

He cited Swordsman II and The Bride with White Hair as models.

From which ancient Greek word does the name Xena derive?

The studio had wanted the spin-off to be about Jason and the Argonauts instead.

What did Lawless break in 1996 while rehearsing a horse sketch for The Tonight Show?

Season two was reshuffled with body-swap episodes so she could appear only briefly while recovering.

Who taught the young Xena to use pressure points after Caesar had her crucified?

M'Lila died shielding her from a crossbow bolt, which pushed Xena fully to the dark side.

What is the name of Xena's palomino horse?

She died of old age during the 25-year sleep, but not before producing a daughter Joxer named Argo II.

Which Xena look-alike, who runs a brothel, eventually marries Joxer?

Lawless played several look-alikes, including Princess Diana and the Hestian priestess Leah.

Who kills Joxer while he tries to protect Gabrielle?

His son Virgil, an aspiring poet, witnesses the death.

Whose soul does Xena's daughter Eve carry?

A redeemed Callisto, by then an angel, engineered the conception after the crucifixion.

In which year did Xena: Warrior Princess premiere in syndication?

It ran until June 2001 and stayed in the syndicated top five for all six years.

Astronomer Michael E. Brown nicknamed which dwarf planet "Xena" before its official name?

Its moon was named Dysnomia, after the Greek goddess of lawlessness, as a nod to the actress.

Which network announced and then scrapped a Xena reboot between 2015 and 2017?

Writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach left over creative differences and the plan was declared dead in August 2017.

Where did the show's star donate her personal Xena costume in 2006?

She told Smithsonian magazine the boned corset made her feel like she was having panic attacks at first.

Which car maker ran an ad with the licence plate "XENA LVR" to court lesbian customers?

The show's treatment of the Xena–Gabrielle relationship is known to fans simply as "subtext".

What term did Xena fandom coin for fan fiction set in an alternate universe?

The show itself went "uber" in "The Xena Scrolls", with descendants meeting at a 1940 dig.

Which company published the Xena: Warrior Princess PlayStation game in 1999?

Saffire handled the Nintendo 64 game, The Talisman of Fate, the same year.

Which Starz series cast Lawless as Lucretia, wife of a gladiator-school owner?

It was produced by her Xena bosses Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert and won her a Saturn Award.

On which NBC sitcom did Lawless play Diane, who marries Ron Swanson?

The recurring role ran from 2012 to 2014.

Zoë Bell went from being Xena's stunt double to doubling the lead in which Quentin Tarantino film?

Kill Bill made Bell the fight double for Uma Thurman's Bride. The documentary Double Dare followed her from the last days of Xena to that job.

Which future star of The Boys played the biblical shepherd David in an early episode of Xena?

Antony Starr was just starting out, with a bit part in the soap Shortland Street behind him. He became the villain Homelander more than twenty years later.

What did the writers first plan for Xena at the end of her three-episode guest run as a villain?

Kill her off, in an episode called Unchained Heart, was the plan until viewers took to her. The producers gave her a series of her own within months.

Which cartoon's Halloween special has an obsessive collector kidnap the actress who played Xena?

The Simpsons had Comic Book Guy, as a villain called The Collector, snatch her from a fan convention so he could marry her. Bart and Lisa come to the rescue as superheroes.

Which future Secretary of State was nicknamed Warrior Princess, Xena's title, as a White House adviser?

Condoleezza Rice earned it as George W. Bush's national security adviser, a name said to reflect strong nerve and delicate manners. She was the first woman to hold that post.

What colour was the hair of the actress cast as Xena before it was dyed black for the part?

Ash blonde hair had to go because she had already played an Amazon, Lysia, in the parent show's pilot film. Black dye and a darker costume kept the two apart.

Before Xena won her own series, the studio wanted a spin-off about which band of Greek heroes?

Jason and the Argonauts was the studio's pick, but the producer argued it would be too much like the show it came from. He pushed for Xena, a villain with a full story still to tell.

Which future star of Firefly played the Egyptian queen Cleopatra in the third season of Xena?

Gina Torres also played the Sumerian princess Nebula in the parent series, then led the sci-fi show Cleopatra 2525 before Firefly and Suits.

In the second season of Xena, what kind of contest does Xena enter undercover to catch a saboteur?

A beauty pageant, the Miss Known World contest, is being sabotaged, so Xena signs up as a contestant to find out who is behind it. The salesman organising the show calls her in to keep the peace.

In Xena's backstory, what was she doing when she took the young Julius Caesar hostage for ransom?

Raiding as a pirate, Xena seized Caesar, a twist on the real story of his capture by pirates as a young man. On the show the two become lovers before he betrays her.

On which science-fiction series did the actress who played Xena appear as the reporter D'Anna Biers?

Battlestar Galactica cast her as a journalist who turns out to be a Cylon, one of the human-looking machines. One of its executive producers, David Eick, had helped develop Xena.

Which character in the musical Grease did the star of Xena play on Broadway in 1997?

Rizzo, the musical's bad girl, was the part she got. She had wanted the wholesome lead, Sandy, and felt the producers typecast her because of Xena.

Which DC superhero did the star of Xena voice in the animated film Justice League: The New Frontier?

Wonder Woman, an Amazon princess, went to the woman who had spent six years as a warrior princess. The 2008 direct-to-video film adapts a DC Comics limited series.

The actress who played Xena was arrested in 2012 after a 77-hour Greenpeace occupation of what?

An oil-drilling ship bound for the Arctic was the target; she and six other activists kept it in port at Taranaki. Each was fined and given 120 hours of community service.

Xena's trilling war cry began as her actress's failed attempt to copy which traditional vocal sound?

An Arabic ululation was what she was aiming for; she could not manage it, twisted it into a version of her own, and the result became the character's signature.

On Xena, what is the biblical giant Goliath to Xena before she has to face him in battle?

Her old friend Goliath stays loyal to the Philistines, so Xena sides with the Israelites and helps David find the weak spot on the giant's forehead for his sling.

A Xena episode reused footage from Amazon High, an unsold pilot led by which Cruel Intentions actress?

Selma Blair led the 1997 pilot, which never aired. Its scenes resurfaced in the season five episode Lifeblood, where she appears as a woman from the future summoned to lead the Amazons.

In which 1990s children's book series does Marco keep comparing his battle-hungry teammate Rachel to Xena?

Animorphs made it a running joke: Rachel is the daredevil of the shape-shifting team, the one who loves a fight, so Marco keeps calling her Xena.

Which warrior of northern legend recruits Xena to help hunt a monster in the Norse lands in season six?

Beowulf turns up with a broken lock that tells Xena a creature she caged decades earlier is loose. The three-part story also borrows from Wagner's opera Das Rheingold.

The actress behind Xena's Gabrielle made her professional debut dancing as which cartoon character?

Porky Pig was her costume at Houston's AstroWorld amusement park. She had been acting at the city's Alley Theatre since the age of 12.

What is the name of Xena's mother, who keeps a tavern and inn in Xena's home town?

Cyrene, played by Darien Takle, later rallies her neighbours when the goddess Athena besieges the town to seize Xena's baby.

Which warlord, played on Xena by Marton Csokas, was Xena's lover and the father of her son?

Borias changed sides to defend the centaurs from Xena's army and was cut down on the day their son was born. The boy grew up among the centaurs he died for.

Which far-eastern mentor healed Xena's crippled legs and gave Xena the title Warrior Princess?

Lao Ma could frighten off a pack of hounds with a look, and she tried to teach Xena to let go of hatred. On the show she is the wife of the sage Laozi and the true founder of Daoism.

Which Amazon regent on Xena married a centaur and named her son Xenan in Xena's honour?

Ephiny worked for peace between the Amazons and the centaurs and married one, Phantes. Danielle Cormack, who played her, later led the prison drama Wentworth.

On Xena, what does Velasca, an Amazon passed over as queen, eat to make herself a goddess?

Ambrosia gives Velasca a goddess's powers, and she attacks the Amazon camp. Xena has to strike a bargain with her own arch-enemy, Callisto, to stop her.

Which trio from Greek myth does Ares set on Xena to drive her mad for not avenging her father?

The Furies torment her until she learns the killer was her own mother. Xena escapes by persuading them that Ares himself may be her real father.

What does Ares give up to heal the dying Gabrielle and Eve after Xena's battle with the Olympians?

His immortality is the price: the god of war spends the next season as a mortal, at one point hiding out on a farm, until Xena helps him win his godhood back.

Which goddess do the Amazons of Xena trace their creation to and honour as their patron?

Artemis, goddess of the hunt and the moon, is their patron. In the final season a man who believes he is her son, Bellerophon, makes war on the Amazons for abandoning her.

Which money-chasing salesman, played by Robert Trebor, turns up in both Xena and the series it grew out of?

Salmoneus is forever out to make a quick dinar and is not above selling faulty goods, yet he shows real kindness now and then.

Which former fiancé does Gabrielle finally marry on Xena, only for Callisto to murder him soon after?

Perdicas had become a soldier to toughen up after she left, fought at Troy, and came back sick of killing. Callisto broke out of prison and cut him down just after the wedding.

In the Xena finale, which soul-eating demon lord does Xena choose to die in order to defeat?

Yodoshi holds the souls of 40,000 people Xena once killed by accident, so she lets herself be slain to fight him as a ghost. She then stays dead so those souls can rest.

In the Xena finale, Gabrielle sets out for a sacred fountain on which mountain to bring Xena back to life?

Mount Fuji holds a fountain that can restore the dead, but Xena's spirit chooses not to be revived. Gabrielle sails away carrying her ashes, with the spirit at her side.

Which future star of Psych played Eli, the healer who brings Xena and Gabrielle back from the dead?

Timothy Omundson played the pacifist mystic for two seasons before his long run as Detective Carlton Lassiter. On Xena his character is later struck down by Ares.

Which would-be poet, the eldest son of Joxer, travels with Xena and Gabrielle after their long sleep?

Virgil grows up at the family inn and joins the search for Xena's lost daughter. William Gregory Lee played him in the last two seasons.

On Xena, which crusading warrior follows voices she calls the Djinn and kills those who will not convert?

Najara, played by future Cold Case lead Kathryn Morris, seems a kindred spirit at first, and Xena nearly leaves Gabrielle in her care. Xena ends up locking her away.

On Xena, which king of Corinth chains up Celesta, the goddess of death, so that nobody can die?

Sisyphus cheats his own death by chaining her, until Xena sets her free. He resurfaces later, plotting to replace Ares as god of war.

On Xena, Joxer delivers a package holding the talking severed head of which musician of Greek myth?

Orpheus has been beheaded by Bacchus and asks Xena to find his lyre so the wine god can be stopped. The episode turns Bacchus's followers, the Bacchae, into vampires.

Which future poet does Gabrielle meet as an unknown and urge to keep telling stories on Xena?

Homer is still an unknown when they meet, and on the show it is Gabrielle who encourages his ambitions. The series loves handing its heroines a part in famous events.

Alexis Arquette appeared on Xena as which Roman emperor, who drains a goddess to make himself divine?

Caligula holds Aphrodite captive in the final season and feeds on her godhood. Xena gets close to him by posing as a chariot racer, with Gabrielle as her manager.

Which leader of the Britons does Xena travel to help against Caesar's legions in season three?

Boadicea, better known today as Boudica, gets Xena's help against Rome in Britannia. The trip turns dark when a cult there tricks Gabrielle into a killing.

Which Xena episode traps a town in one endlessly repeating day until two star-crossed lovers are helped?

Been There, Done That leaves only Xena aware of each reset, so she has to end the families' feud alone. Déjà Vu All Over Again is a different episode, about reincarnation in the present day.

When Caesar rewrites destiny in the Xena episode When Fates Collide, what does Gabrielle become?

A playwright is her calling in the world Caesar makes by seizing the loom of the Fates. In that life he rules Rome with Xena as his empress.

What nickname did the writers of Xena fan fiction adopt in honour of Gabrielle and her scrolls?

Bards was the fans' word for their own writers, after the talented storyteller Gabrielle grows into. Once the show ended, fans kept the story going online in whole virtual seasons.

The shamaness Alti, one of Xena's oldest enemies, was cast out by the Northern Amazons of which region?

Siberia is home to the Northern Amazons, who expelled Alti for her hunger for power. Xena meets them again in the Amazon land of the dead, where Alti has enslaved their souls.

Which younger brother of Xena was killed when the warlord Cortese attacked their home town?

Lyceus's death set Xena on the road from village defender to warlord. In one episode the Fates show her a life in which he is still alive.

Leah, one of several women on Xena who look exactly like Xena, serves as a priestess of which goddess?

Hestia, goddess of the hearth, is served by Leah, who trades places with another of the look-alikes in season three. The same actress played Xena and all her doubles.

On Xena, a dagger stained with the blood of which mythical creature is able to destroy a deity?

The Golden Hind's blood is lethal to the gods on the show. Callisto uses such a dagger on Strife, nephew of Ares, and Xena later turns one on Callisto herself.

Which fearsome title did Xena earn in her years as a ruthless warlord, before she changed sides?

Destroyer of Nations was the name she carried as a conqueror, and it follows her through the series. Ares keeps offering to make her his Warrior Queen instead.

The 1998 animated film teaming Xena with her parent show's hero pits them against which escaped beings?

The Titans, four of them, are set loose by a jealous Hera, forcing the heroes and the Olympians onto the same side. The direct-to-video film used the live-action cast as voices.

What does the dying Amazon princess Terreis give Gabrielle for shielding her from arrows on Xena?

Her right of caste makes Gabrielle an Amazon princess, next in line to rule. She later becomes queen, then passes the title on so she can stay with Xena.