Queer Xena Reboot Gets the Boot
Addison Herron-Wheeler is OUT FRONT's co-publisher and editor-in-chief and friend…
Xena enthusiasts everywhere were getting stoked for a reboot in 2016, when NBC promised that the warrior princess would return the to screen in an openly queer revival.
“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 in first-run syndication in the 1990s,”Javier Grillo-Marxuach, the writer who was going to head up the project, told New Now Next at the time. “It will also express my view of the world—which is only further informed by what is happening right now.”
However, Gillo-Maruach did not make good on his promises, and instead left the project. NBC executives have since declared the reboot “dead.”
“Nothing is happening on that right now. We looked at some material, we decided at that point that it didn’t warrant the reboot,” NBC Entertainment president Jennifer Salke stated in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
However, she also added “never say never,” hinting, that the show could possibly make a return at some point. Lucy Lawless, who made Xena famous in her heyday, is in favor of a queer revival. She even hopes the new Xena will be a person of color, making for an interracial, on-screen couple.
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Addison Herron-Wheeler is OUT FRONT's co-publisher and editor-in-chief and friend to dogs everywhere. She enjoys long walks in the darkness away from any sources of sunlight, rainy days, and painfully dry comedy. She also covers cannabis and heavy metal, and is author of Wicked Woman: Women in Metal from the 1960s to Now and Respirator, a short story collection.