Well it's been a rollercoaster day. I woke to the news that I've been waiting to hear for the last 14 years (ever since the end of A Friend In Need in May 2001) and then almost as fast it was shot down by Lucy but then EW kicked in and and and and...the Xenaverse went into meltdown, Xena was trending on Facebook and Twitter.

One almost thinks that this was a kite flying exercise to see if it would generate some interest. It generated interest all right. The wall to wall articles I've seen stream through are amazing - even Aussie newspapers were salivating at the prospect of a Xena Reboot (and they are hard to please).

Where are we? In the dark and speculating like the previous months and days....

Alright, let's go through the facts and run down the various 'yes they are' and 'no they're not' on the Xena Reboot Xena 2.0!
Buckle up, it gets very confusing.

NBC was planning on a Xena Reboot. The news hit the Xenaverse like a freight train and EVERYONE got excited only to have Lucy come out and say it was just a rumour. Well that deflated everyone's balloons UNTIL Entertainment Weekly came out and said they confirmed with NBC that it is in fact being considered.

Say what?

Alright, let's go with the facts as they are presented. Let's start with The Hollywood Reporter (not your average entertainment blog since it's a widely respected journal) and one of the reasons I believed the story.

• Producers NBC and NBC Universal International are currently searching for a writer to board the reboot, which hails from original executive producers Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi.
• Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that NBC and NBC Universal International are prepping a reboot of the beloved Lucy Lawless action-adventure drama. The drama is in the extremely early development stages and a search for a writer is currently underway.

So far so good - that's pretty much the same same for the last 14 years with news about writers etc etc etc

• Original executive producers Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi are also involved in the project, which is considered to be a "modern reboot."

Not according to Lucy it's not. Rob is not involved.

• It's unclear what, if any, role original star Lawless would have, though sources tell THR that insiders would like the original star to have both a role on screen and behind the scenes.

Someone must have forgot to tell Lucy about this development because as she indicated she knows nothing about it. I want Lucy back as Xena and Renee back as Gabrielle. Everything else...doesn't matter to me.

 

• The drama is eyed for 2016.

Don't we wish!

• It's too early to know if Xena 2.0 would be a limited 13-episode run similar to Fox's revived 24 or a more standard full-season order. Insiders say the hope is for the new Xena to be an ongoing (read renewable) series.

At this point...I don't care. Just do the damn thing.

• Sources say the new Xena would have to have the charisma and charm of Lawless and the smarts of The Hunger Games' Katniss as producers are said to be looking for a sophisticated and smart superhero for a new generation.

Er what? Katniss? I have never watched The Hunger Games but taking a quick poll amongst the Xenaverse...I was greeted with a lot of disbelief and a whole lot of laughter. I'm assuming that Katniss is not match for Xena in the smarts department. Come on, this is the Warrior Princess, the Conqueror, the thorn in the side of Caesar and the Olympian Gods...you gotta have smarts.

May I suggest to the person who wrote the Hollywood Reporter article...go and do some homework on Xena. The smarts of Katniss...give me a break. Read the full Hollywood Reporter article here

 

and now we come to Entertainment Weekly which gives this tidbit about why Lucy wouldn't know about the NBC news:

Here is the kicker

Xena: Warrior Princess could return to television next year. EW has confirmed that NBC hopes to reboot the cult series, which starred Lucy Lawless as the title warrior.

EW goes to the source of the news and says...yep NBC hopes to reboot the series. I sure hope they don't try and reboot it like they did for The Bionic Woman which was a god-awful show. Let's not go into that because I'll be ranting about it. You don't want to read my rants against The Bionic Woman Reboot.

Now back to Xena 2.0...Why doesn't Lucy Know? here's EW's take on it:

If Lawless was out of the loop, it wouldn't be the first time NBC has kept a cast of rebooted TV show in the dark: In 2014, the network dropped a surprise teaser for a little series called Heroes Reborn during a telecast of the Olympic Games, and the cast of the original series were as shocked as viewers.

 

Confused yet? My brain hurts. I'll leave it to Xena to echo the Xenaverse's feelings right about now.... (thanks to Klippart of the gif!)

 

 

How I feel about today's Xena news/rumor reboot confusion. aka: The time #Xena freaked out pic.twitter.com/eIDFYONFed

— Klippart (@Klippart) July 21, 2015