Xena Will Be Out and Proud in TV Reboot

As if your baby butch lesbian longings sprung fully formed like Athena from the head of Zeus, so is the '90s series "Xena: Warrior Princess" is back for an NBC reboot, and this time, Xena and her sidekick Gabrielle will definitely be out of the closet about their super-committed, super-gay relationship.

In a recent article, Jezebel writes that "This time around, there won't be any suggestiveness about Xena's (Lucy Lawless) relationship with her sheroic partner Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor). Xena will for sure be openly gay in the series."

Both the sword fighting and the sexual chemistry will be back. But in addition to beating gorgons and marauders, Xena and Gabrielle have also beaten the homophobia of the '90s, that wouldn't allow room for an on-screen lesbian romance.

"There 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 [sic] in first-run syndication in the 1990s," Executive Producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach wrote on Tumblr. "It 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."

Newsweek cites a 2003 interview with Lesbian News, where Lawless describes Xena as "definitely" gay.

"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," said Lawless. "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.'"

When asked during that 2003 interview with Lesbian News how she would characterize the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle, Lawless was quick and simple in her reply: "Gay, Gay," she said, "Definitely."