This year Lucy Lawless made her first appearance at Dragon Con, taking part in Battlestar Galactica and Spartacus panels as well as her own solo panel on Friday afternoon. Her breakout role as Xena: Warrior Princess was enough to cement her as both a geek and a girl power icon, but she continues to impress on both stage and screen. She’s returning to Parks & Recreation this season and taking on a thriller for Australian television.
Daily Dragon (DD): I read an interview you did recently where you talked about your ideas for reviving the Xena series.
Lucy Lawless (LL): What I would love to happen. I have no say over the outcome, but certainly there’s a studio that’s quite interested. They’ve been looking into who holds the rights and unpack the whole legal knot that’s tied it up for a long time. In the old days a studio would rather kill a project rather than let it go anywhere else. Or kill a project if they don’t own 100 percent of it. But in this day and age isn’t it better to own 70 percent of something than 100 percent of nothing?
This is a great idea, [Xena and Gabrielle have] a great relationship, the show has a great fanbase. Give the people what they want!
DD: You said that at some point Xena should pass on the mantle to a new warrior princess who would lead the way for a new generation. Which actress could you see in that role?
LL: I’m out of the loop of who’s out there right now. You want someone who’s capable of being funny and can also have heartfelt moments. Somebody who’s not a whiner because it’s a hard shoot.
DD: Due to all the fighting?
LL: I never really enjoyed the physical aspect of fighting and stuff; it’s just not my thing. Every single day I was shocked when they’d say “Lucy, your fight’s up!” and I thought, are you kidding me, we’ve got to do another one? My only defense was to get good at it so I could get it over and done with.