LUCY LAWLESS BIDS FAREWELL AS ``XENA:
WARRIOR PRINCESS'' ENDS
The Virginian Pilot
15 June 2001
Byline: Larry Bonko
AS ``Xena: Warrior Princess'' approaches the slam-bang series finale on
WTVZ - our heroine (Lucy Lawless) slashes her way through an army of
Samurai warriors - Xenites in Hampton Roads wish the show could go on
for another six seasons.
Or longer.
``Battle on, Xena. Forever!'' That's their mantra.
WTVZ on Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m. airs Part 1 of the
two-part conclusion of the series filmed in New Zealand. It's called
``The Last Battleground.''
``I'm quite sad to see it end. There are many more stories to be told,''
said Virginia Beach resident Dana L. Hlusko.
The show is not in decline. Far from it. In syndication, it's No. 1
among women 18 to 34. Overall, it's been the top-rated syndicated drama
for the last four years.
``The show will go out on top,'' said Rob Tapert of the company (Studios
USA) that produces ``Xena: Warrior Princess.''
For once, praise for a TV show is more than a producer's hyperbole. Here
in 2001, six years after Xena was introduced on ``Hercules: The
Legendary Journeys,'' the show has never been better.
It's artsy drama. It's also drama lite. Ted Raimi as Joxer is the
funniest TV sidekick since Don Knotts. Both have made bumbling an art
form.
The show is butt-kicking action that even TV snobs feel drawn to.
Lately, it's been an absolute hoot with the series poking fun at itself
- even moving from the time of ancient gods, warlords and kings to the
present with Xenites in convention asking for a seventh season of
``Xena: Warrior Princess.''
The series has kept its hard edge and soft heart, particularly where the
relationship of Xena and her companion, Gabrielle, is concerned.
Gabrielle: ``I love you, Xena.''
Xena: ``You're the best thing in my life, Gabrielle.''
Lesbianism, perhaps? ``More like sisterhood,'' said Lawless.
Xena has proven that she will do anything for Gabrielle. When
Gabrielle's soul needed rescuing, Xena was there to dive into a lava pit
and venture into the Amazons' land of death.
After playing small parts as characters named Lyla and Lysia on
``Hercules: The Legendary Journeys,'' Lawless was cast as a despicable,
evil warrior princess bent on killing Hercules.
Writes James Van Hise in his companion book to the ``Xena'' and
``Hercules'' shows, ``She was a typical villainess - a hissing, spitting
vixen with an abrasive, warring style who feared nothing.''
The ``Hercules'' producers quickly realized that in Lucy Lawless as Xena
they had an actress with the high cheekbones, strut and presence to star
in a series of her own. In a few pages of script, Xena was transformed
from bad to good.
``Xena: Warrior Princess'' debuted in 1995 with Xena confronting a
warlord named Draco. The series would go on to earn millions in
syndication. Lawless as Xena is seen in 115 countries.
Dana Hlusko in Virginia Beach lost herself in what she calls the
``Xenaverse.'' She's the Xena font of knowledge for the online magazine
``Whoosh!'' at whoosh.org
``Xena: Warrior Princess'' may be just another TV show to you and me.
But to Hlusko, registered nurse and mother of two, it's much more than
that.
``In the `Xenaverse,' I know of many people whose lives were changed by
the series. They became more reflective in a spiritual sense. They
changed their attitudes about religion, prejudice, tolerance and the
power of women to make changes in their own lives and the lives of
others.''
Yi! Yi! Yi! Who knew that ``Xena: Warrior Princess'' was going to shake
up the world when it signed on in 1995 with Renee O'Connor cast as
Gabrielle?
Actress Lucy Lawless (Xena) in a recent interview said that while she's
reluctant to say goodbye to so fabulous a character, she will not miss
the 12-to-18-hour days on the set - or the nicks and bruises that come
with being a sword-wielding, chakram-tossing warrior princess.
``I've given my sweat, blood and tears to `Xena.' Playing the part has
sent me to my chiropractor more times than I can count. I've had black
eyes. I'm tired. The series has been hard work. At times I felt like
I've been kicked in the head.''
This married mother of two says she's spent enough time bouncing around
a TV set in mini-leather outfits and breastplates. She's ready for
something else, perhaps a sitcom.
Lawless has been a guest star on ``Just Shoot Me.'' She's starred on
Broadway as Rizzo in ``Grease.'' She's a dancer with legs that go on
forever. She can carry a tune and drop one-liners as easily as she
dispatched marauders bent on kidnapping virgins on ``Xena.''
In last week's episode, she played three roles - one heavy and two
light. Heck. Lawless even popped out of a wedding cake wearing nothing
but whipped banana cream as a ditz named Meg.
In past episodes, she's been Meg as well as identical twins - Xena and
Princess Diana.
Such range.
Is Lawless looking to do more comedy?
``I'm not sure where my career will go from here. I like doing
slapstick. It would be nice to do a musical again. I'm not hooked up
with anything that's definite. Until something interests me, my husband
and I will be fishing with the kids.''
If ever a role could typecast an actress, it's Xena.
It's hard to think of Lawless without thinking Xena - memories burned
deep after seeing the episode in which she was crucified by Julius
Caesar or the show in which she battled Callisto to the finish or the
hour in which she came this close to marrying Ares and becoming Mrs. God
of War.
Will the world of film and TV accept Lawless as anyone other than the
passionate, courageous, dangerous Xena?
Definitely, she said.
``I'm sure that people in the future will come up to me and say, `Didn't
you used to play Xena on television in the 1990s?' I hope they realize
that I am not a warrior princess. I am an actress who likes playing
different characters. I'd like to make movies. I'm rarely recognized out
in public because I don't look much like Xena in real life. I appear
much smaller, paler away from the camera.''
For the record, the former Lucille Ryan of Auckland, New Zealand, is 5
feet, 10 1/2 inches tall, 140 pounds, 33 years old. Her resume says she
was a gold miner in Kalgoorlie, Australia, was a beauty queen (Mrs. New
Zealand 1989) and can speak four languages.
Xena, said Lawless, speaks middle American.
Hlusko hoped to see Lawless up close when she attended a
``Hercules/Xena'' convention in California only to miss Lawless, who
stayed home in New Zealand because she was pregnant with her second
child.
Hlusko with her friend and fellow Xenite, Brenda Andrews of Virginia
Beach, planned to visit the ``Xena'' cast and crew filming in New
Zealand. But it was not to be.
``We were told that visits to the set were not allowed unless we had
credentials or were relatives of actors in the show. We didn't get to
see our dream come true. It would have been like making a pilgrimage for
me,'' said Hlusko.
She'll always have the ``Xena: Warrior Princess'' reruns.
