99 Fun Facts About Xena: Warrior Princess

In which country was Xena: Warrior Princess filmed?

New Zealand. Shooting around Auckland also handed the show its star: when the first-choice actress fell ill, producers drafted in Lucy Lawless, a local who had played bit parts on Hercules.

Which group makes Gabrielle a princess after its dying heir passes her title on in season one of Xena?

The Amazons. Gabrielle shields the wounded princess Terreis from more arrows, and with her last breath Terreis hands over her 'right of caste', a title that later makes the farm girl a queen.

Which actor played Hercules in the series that introduced Xena as a villainous warlord?

Kevin Sorbo. His Hercules reformed the warlord Xena across three episodes, and the spin-off she earned went on to outlast his own show by more than a year.

Who played Gabrielle, Xena's companion?

Renee O'Connor. She had played Princess Deianeira in the 1994 TV movie Hercules and the Lost Kingdom, and its producers remembered her when they needed a sidekick for their new heroine.

Which Xena co-creator and executive producer married the show's star, Lucy Lawless?

Robert Tapert. He produced the Evil Dead films with Sam Raimi, and Lawless had played two other parts on his Hercules before the first-choice Xena fell ill and the role became hers.

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

Vanessa Angel. She fell ill before she could fly out to the set, other actresses turned the part down, and it fell to local unknown Lucy Lawless, while Angel stayed with her own series, Weird Science.

Which future epic poet does Gabrielle coach at an Athens academy for bards, where he competes as Orion?

Homer. He enters the storytelling contest as Orion, a nervous young bard drilled by his father, and reveals his real name only after Gabrielle talks him into telling tales his own way.

What is Xena's trademark throwing weapon?

A chakram. Xena throws the razor-edged ring so that it ricochets off whatever stands in the way, hits its target and still comes back to her hand.

In which ancient Greek city was Xena born?

Amphipolis. Xena first took up arms to defend it from the warlord Cortese, a fight that cost her brother Lyceus his life and set her on the road to conquest.

Xena's companion Gabrielle grew up in which Greek village?

Potidaea. Xena saves the village from the warlord Draco in the first episode, and Gabrielle, bored at home and unwilling to marry the local man she is promised to, slips away to follow her.

Who played Joxer, the bumbling would-be warrior on Xena?

Ted Raimi. The younger brother of executive producer Sam Raimi made the cowardly braggart a regular, and from season two Joxer marches into trouble singing his own anthem, 'Joxer the Mighty'.

Which actor played Ares, the god of war, on Xena and Hercules?

Kevin Smith. A third concussion in one rugby season ended his playing days, his wife put him up for an Elvis musical while he recovered, and he later said he owed the man who kicked him in the head a drink.

Who played Xena's nemesis Callisto?

Hudson Leick. When the two enemies swap bodies in season two, Leick takes over as the heroine, and she is billed as Xena for the whole of the following episode.

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

Burned it nearly to the ground. Xena never learned how the fire started but owns the deaths of the women and children, and Callisto, who lost her family in it, lives only to repay her.

Which future Lord of the Rings actor played both Cupid and Caesar on Xena?

Karl Urban. His Caesar charms and then betrays the young pirate Xena, the wound that turns her into a warlord, and he doubled as a winged Cupid years before Éomer and Dr McCoy.

Which actor played Autolycus, the King of Thieves, on Hercules and Xena?

Bruce Campbell. The Evil Dead star spends much of 'The Quest' playing Xena, whose spirit borrows the thief's body to steal back her own.

Who composed the theme and incidental music for Xena: Warrior Princess?

Joseph LoDuca. The Detroit jazz guitarist broke into film by scoring a low-budget horror, The Evil Dead, and its makers kept him on for Hercules and Xena, which won him an Emmy in 2000.

Xena's theme music grew out of a traditional folk song from which country?

Bulgaria. The tune is 'Kaval sviri', recorded by a Bulgarian women's choir, and the chant over Xena's opening titles is in Bulgarian too, telling of a woman who rides alone to battle the armies of a dark world.

What is the title of Xena's season three musical episode?

The Bitter Suite. After a child's death turns them into enemies, Xena and Gabrielle tumble into the dreamworld of Illusia and can leave only by singing their way back to forgiveness.

Protests over the portrayal of which Hindu god led Xena's makers to pull the episode 'The Way' from syndication?

Krishna. A Vaishnava group objected before 'The Way' had even aired; the producers apologised and withdrew it, then returned it months later, recut and followed by a message from the two stars.

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?

Hope. Gabrielle chose the name insisting there must be some good in the baby, but the girl killed within hours of her birth and looked about ten years old only months later.

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

They are crucified. The two die side by side on Roman crosses just as Brutus and his allies cut Caesar down, and a healer named Eli raises them when the next season opens.

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

25 years. They had faked their deaths to hide baby Eve from the gods, and they wake to find their friend Joxer in his sixties and the child a grown woman.

Lucy Lawless plays herself in a 1999 Halloween episode of which animated series, kidnapped from a convention by a collector?

The Simpsons. In 'Desperately Xeeking Xena' Comic Book Guy, as the villain The Collector, carries her off to be his bride, and she plays along just long enough to clobber him.

What power is Xena granted after Eve's baptism?

To kill gods while her daughter lives. Xena uses the gift to cut down most of Olympus when the gods come for Eve, and Ares gives up his own immortality to heal the dying Eve and Gabrielle.

On Xena, what does the shamaness Alti's trademark stare do to her target?

Makes them relive old pain. Under Alti's gaze Xena feels her legs being broken and her back snapping all over again, and as the shamaness grows stronger she can inflict wounds from a victim's future too.

What did Xena's scripts call Japan, to avoid using a modern name?

Jappa. China had already become 'Chin' on the show, and Jappa is saved for the two-part finale, when Xena sails there to free a town from a soul-eating demon.

The Xena episode 'Been There, Done That' borrows its premise from which 1993 film?

Groundhog Day. Only Xena notices the same day starting over, and she sees Joxer, Gabrielle and her own horse die on different mornings before she works out how to stop two feuding families and break the loop.

Which weapons does Xena's companion Gabrielle take up in season five in place of her fighting staff?

Sais. Gabrielle embraces non-violence in season four, abandons it to defend a paralysed Xena, and from early in season five fights with the paired sais.

On her first appearance, which friend of Hercules does Xena seduce to turn the two men against each other?

Iolaus. Xena poses as a maiden in distress, plays on his envy of his famous friend, and has him ready to fight Hercules before he sees through her.

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

She saves a baby from her men. Her lieutenant Darphus calls it weakness and makes her run the gauntlet between two lines of her own soldiers, and she is the first ever to stagger out alive.

Xena was modelled on the villainous swordswomen played by which Hong Kong film star?

Brigitte Lin. Her role in The Bride with White Hair was the model for a villain meant to die at the end of three Hercules episodes, until the producers saw a spin-off in her.

Xena's name echoes the Greek word xenos, the root of 'xenophobia'; what does xenos mean?

Stranger. To the Greeks a xenos was also a guest owed hospitality, and the name itself is probably a variant of Xenia, an odd fit for a warlord once known as the Destroyer of Nations.

What did Lucy Lawless fracture in 1996 when a horse fell with her during a Tonight Show sketch?

Her pelvis. The horse lost its footing outside the studio, and with their star laid up for weeks the writers left Xena trapped in other characters' bodies so that guest actors could carry whole episodes.

Which stowaway on Xena's pirate ship taught her to use pressure points and later died shielding her?

M'Lila. The runaway slave shows Xena the deadly 'pinch' aboard ship, rescues her after Caesar's betrayal, and dies taking a crossbow bolt meant for her, the loss that turns Xena to conquest.

What is the name of Xena's palomino horse?

Argo. The palomino mare comes at Xena's whistle, and by the time her rider wakes from a long enchanted sleep she has died, leaving a daughter, Argo II, whom no one else can ride.

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

Meg. Lucy Lawless plays the brassy bordello-keeper as well as Xena, and when the heroes return from their long absence she is Joxer's wife and the mother of his children, among them the poet Virgil.

On Xena, who kills Joxer while he tries to protect Gabrielle?

Livia. Rome's young commander cuts the ageing Joxer down when he rushes in to save the captive Gabrielle, and his son Virgil swears revenge on the woman Xena still means to redeem.

How does Xena's two-part 2001 finale, 'A Friend in Need', end for the heroine?

She chooses to stay dead. Xena dies in battle so her spirit can free 40,000 souls lost to a fire she once started, then stops Gabrielle from reviving her because the dead can rest only if she remains among them.

What does Xena bury early in her 1995 premiere?

Her weapons. Xena strips off her armour and is covering it with earth when raiders chase village girls past her, and within minutes she is hunting for the buried sword to fight them off.

Astronomer Mike Brown's team nicknamed which dwarf planet 'Xena' before it got its official name?

Eris. The placeholder stuck for almost two years, with the moon dubbed Gabrielle, and the moon's official name, Dysnomia, means lawlessness, an echo of the actress Lucy Lawless.

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

NBC. The network commissioned the reboot in 2015 with the original producers on board and hired a Lost writer to script it, but he quit over 'insurmountable creative differences' and the project died in 2017.

To which museum did Lucy Lawless give her Xena costume in 2006?

National Museum of American History. Lawless told Smithsonian magazine the boned corset at first made her feel she was having panic attacks, but that it 'became a second skin after a while'.

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

Subaru. Market research had shown the company it already had many lesbian buyers, so it built a campaign of coded winks for them, and the 'XENA LVR' plate was one.

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

Uberfic. Kym Taborn of the fan journal Whoosh coined it in 1997 for stories that recast the heroines as look-alike descendants or reincarnations in other eras, a trick the show had just tried itself in 'The Xena Scrolls'.

The Xena episode 'The Xena Scrolls', set at a 1940s dig in Macedonia, sends up which film series?

Indiana Jones. The joke is in the casting: Gabrielle's double, Janice Covington, is the whip-carrying tough who does the rescuing, while Xena's double, Mel Pappas, is the demure visitor who needs it.

Which Starz drama cast Lucy Lawless as the scheming Lucretia, with her old Xena producers in charge?

Spartacus. Her old Xena producers made Blood and Sand, and although Lucretia seemed to die in the slave revolt that ends its first season, Lawless came back for both the prequel and the sequel.

On which sitcom did Lucy Lawless play Diane, the school vice-principal who marries a government-hating boss?

Parks and Recreation. Diane's ignored complaints about a pothole bring Ron Swanson to her door to fix it himself, and the gruff loner is soon at a princess tea party with her two daughters, then married to her.

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.