How the series "Xena - Warrior Princess" was filmed: footage from filming and 25 interesting facts about the series (23 photos)

At one time, the STS channel showed many cool series. And one of my favorite series on this channel in the 90s was “Xena: Warrior Princess”, which is essentially a spin-off of another series “The Amazing Journeys of Hercules”, but which gained much more popularity





1. Initially, a series like “Xena: Warrior Princess” should not have existed at all. This character was created by producer Robert Tapert for the TV series The Amazing Journeys of Garacles, where Xena appeared in only three episodes.



Robert himself was a fan of Asian films about martial arts, which is why his Xena turned out to be such a martial arts master. Tapert himself was inspired by the Taiwanese actress Bridget Lin, namely her heroine from the film “The Bride with White Hair.”





Bridget Lin in the movie "The Bride with White Hair"

But in the end, the audience liked Xena so much that the creators decided to dedicate a separate series to her. And they were right, as it really became a hit, eclipsing "The Amazing Journeys of Hercules."

2. Initially, the role of Xena was to be played by actress Vanessa Angel, known for her role as a computer genie named Lisa from the very interesting series “Miracles of Science,” which was also shown on the STS TV channel.

But due to the fact that Vanessa became very ill, the creators urgently had to look for a replacement, and the role was given to New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless. By the way, in 1998, Lucy Lawless married producer Robert Tapert.



Robert Tapert and Lucy Lawless

3. The series "Xena: Warrior Princess" ran from 1995 to 2001 and consisted of 6 seasons, which totaled 134 episodes.

4. According to the original plan, Xena was supposed to be a blonde, like the heroine Bridget Lean from the film “The Bride with White Hair,” but in the end she was made a brunette, although the actress herself is a blonde.



5. It’s funny, but in addition to Xena (or rather before her), Lucy Lawless has already played two different roles in projects about Hercules with Kevin Sorbo. Firstly, she played an Amazon in the feature film “Harcules and the Amazons”, and secondly, she played the wife of a centaur in one of the episodes of the series. That is why some were against Lucy, who had already appeared in the series about Hercules, also playing the role of the warrior Xena. But in the end, she still got the role.



6. Xena's friend was played by American actress Renee O'Connor, who also appeared in one of the feature films about Hercules. But the producers decided that since Xena is played by an actress who has already appeared several times in “Hercules,” then there would be nothing wrong with Renee O’Connor playing a new character.



Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor on the set of Xena: Warrior Princess

By the way, during her auditions, Renee O'Connor read her text while standing on a chair. As a result, the actress fell from her chair. Fortunately, there were no incidents, but everyone remembered these tests.



7. The director of the series was the well-known Sam Raimi, who was already known for such films as “Hard Target”, the “Evil Dead” trilogy, “Time Patrol” and of course “The Amazing Journeys of Hercules”.

By the way, later Sam Raimi will often star Lucy Lawless in his projects.

8. By the way, many of you probably remember Xena’s iconic cry. So, exactly the same cry was used by the antagonist from the film “Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness”, the same Sam Raimi.



9. Sam Raimi constantly tries to shoehorn his brother Ted Raimi into his own films. The series "Zana - Warrior Princess" was no exception. There he played the clumsy warrior Joxer, who is in love with Gabrielle.



Ted Raimi, Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor

10. In the original, the name Xena is pronounced Zina. But apparently the localizers decided that a warrior named Zina was too much. By the way, the company "Xerox" should also be pronounced not as "Xerox", but as "Zirox".

11. In the first season, in the opening credits we see only the name Lucy Lawless, but starting from the second season, Renee O'Connor was also inserted into the opening credits. Xena's friend was not planned to be included in the opening title sequence, but Lucy Lawless personally insisted on this, who said that Gabrielle was also the main character of the series.



12. One of director Sam Raimi's favorites is actor Bruce Campbell, who once played the role of Ash in the Evil Dead trilogy. So in the series about Hercules and about Xena, a very significant role was found for him, namely the role of the professional thief Autolycus.



Bruce Campbell as the thief Autolycus

13. The creators of the series liked to make various jokes in the credits like “No harpies were harmed during the filming of the series.” It's funny, it's a pity that I didn't know about this as a child.

14. In the first episode of the series, even members of the film crew, namely cameramen, editors, etc., acted as extras. And all because the extras had already left because the working day was over, and the director realized that some scenes needed to be completed at that very moment, since the schedule was tight.



15. The scene with Poseidon was filmed purely for the title sequence, and his appearance in the series was not planned. But after watching the first season, dissatisfied viewers “attacked” the producers with letters and calls with questions about the appearance of Poseidon. As a result, the creators gave up and included the God of the Seas in the second season.



Still from the series intro

16. Nowadays, Americans try to insert an unconventional agenda into almost every film and TV series, which is already sickening, but in the 90s it was much stricter with this, especially for television. Therefore, in the project "Xena - Warrior Princess" it was never explicitly stated that Xena and Gabrielle were more than friends, but there were more than enough hints about this. If the series was filmed in our time, then believe me, there would be a strong emphasis on this.



On the other hand, such understatement only fueled interest in the series, and fans argued among themselves whether Xena and Gabrielle were more than friends or not.

17. Zena’s stunt double, who performed all the stunts and action scenes, was actress and stuntwoman Zoe Bell. A little later, she starred in Quentin Tarantino’s film “Kill Bill,” where she acted as Uma Thurman’s understudy in action scenes.



Lucy Lawless and Zoe Bell

As it turns out, Quentin Tarantino was a big fan of the TV series “Xena: Warrior Princess,” and he liked the action scenes in the series so much that he found out who was actually performing them, and eventually invited Zoey to join him. Moreover,



Zoe Bell and Quentin Tarantino

In addition to the film “Kill Bill,” Zoe appeared in other Tarantino projects. for example, as a stuntwoman she starred in the film “Inglourious Basterds”, and as an actress in such films as “Django Unchained”, “The Hateful Eight”, “Death Proof” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”.

18. During the filming of one of the episodes, Lucy Lawless broke her hip bone after falling from a horse, which is why she had to recover for a long time. And in order not to waste too much time, the creators filmed an episode with a change of bodies, so that they did not have to use Lucy herself.



19. Xena's beautiful costume was made of plastic, brass, mother-of-pearl and foam rubber. According to Lucy Lawless, walking in such a suit was very uncomfortable at first, but then she literally merged with it and no longer felt discomfort.

By the way, all of Xena’s costumes were eventually taken by Lucy Lawless herself, and the actress donated one of them to the Museum of American History.



20. The series "Xena: Warrior Princess" inspired many authors to create projects starringstrong and independent women.

21. The television series “Xena: Warrior Princess” essentially became the starting point in the career of the young actor Karl Urban, who today is known to many for his leading role in the already cult series “The Boys.” Moreover, in “Xena” he got two roles - Gaius Julius Caesar and Eros (Cupid).



Karl Urban as Gaius Julius Caesar and Eros

22. Kevin Sorbo, who played Hercules, did not like the fact that, in fact, a spin-off with a woman in the leading role became much more popular than the original series about Hercules.



Kevin Sorbo as Hercules and Lucy Lawless as Xena

However, he developed a wonderful relationship with Lucy Lawless herself. And in general, there was always a friendly atmosphere on the set. By the way, Kevin Sorbo himself in the role of Hercules also visited the series about “Xena”.



From left to right: Renee O'Connor, Lucy Lawless, Kevin Sorbo and Michael Hirst

23. Back in 2003, it was planned to release a full-length film about Xena with the same actors, but in the end the film was never released. But in 2017, it was announced that the series would be restarted, but with different actors. True, the series suffered the same fate. Due to creative differences, it also did not see the light of day, and apparently never will again.

24. Because Lucy Lawless became pregnant during filming, Xena's pregnancy had to be written into the script. By the way, they did exactly the same thing in the series “Alf”, when the performer of the role of the wife of the head of the family, Ann Schedeen, became pregnant.



25. After filming the final season of the series was completed, the creators decided to make a spin-off of “Xena” called “Gabrielle,” which was supposed to tell about the adventures of Xena’s friend, but alone. But when the creators received feedback from viewers who wrote that they would not want to watch a series about Gabrielle, they abandoned this idea.