{"id":2059559,"date":"2025-09-30T12:10:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T12:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2059559"},"modified":"2025-09-30T12:10:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T12:10:05","slug":"warrior-princess-opening-scene-was-way-darker-than-you-realized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/warrior-princess-opening-scene-was-way-darker-than-you-realized\/","title":{"rendered":"Warrior Princess&#8217; Opening Scene Was Way Darker Than You Realized"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Xena: Warrior\u00a0Princess&#8221;\u00a0was kind of an anomaly. Co-created by Robert Tapert &amp; John Schulian and developed by R.J. Stewart &amp;\u00a0Sam Raimi as\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/1927283\/spin-offs-better-than-original-series\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:a spin-off of the TV series &quot;Hercules: The Legendary Journeys,&quot;;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">a spin-off of the TV series &#8220;Hercules: The Legendary Journeys,&#8221;<\/a>\u00a0&#8220;Xena&#8221;\u00a0was a women-forward show where its lead was a badass with a complicated past, and that meant sometimes it got a little dark. Xena (<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/647275\/the-spine-of-night-star-lucy-lawless-talks-voice-acting-animation-and-pumpkins-interview\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:played by the inimitable Lucy Lawless;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">played by the inimitable Lucy Lawless<\/a>) did all kinds of things to try and atone for her villainous past and some of her darker deeds were eventually revealed on the series, but apparently one of the show&#8217;s darkest moments happened in the opening of the very first episode.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In an <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/xena-warrior-princess-oral-history-lucy-lawless-11778932\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Entertainment Weekly;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Entertainment Weekly<\/a> oral history celebrating the 30th anniversary of the series, Stewart shared that an early sequence that shows Xena burying her weapons had a rather dark inspiration. Before she&#8217;s able to finish burying them\u00a0 she&#8217;s interrupted by a group of villagers being harassed by warriors, so she digs up her chakram (her disc-shaped throwing blade) and scares away the warriors. It&#8217;s the beginning of her attempts at leaving her life as a bloodthirsty warlord behind, which serves as the main thrust of &#8220;Xena.&#8221; However, according to Stewart, her original plan was to bury her gear before going off somewhere else to die. Instead she decides to dedicate her life to being better and helping others, which rules. Still, the idea that &#8220;Xena&#8221; starts with its namesake contemplating her own death is pretty intense. Then again, this is &#8220;Xena,&#8221; so intense is kind of to be expected, right?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read more: <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/1823748\/best-western-tv-shows-ranked\/?zsource=yahoo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:The 15 Best Western TV Shows Ever, Ranked;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">The 15 Best Western TV Shows Ever, Ranked<\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"mb-4 text-xl font-bold md:text-2xl\">Xena was ready to give up on life before she found something to live for<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>Lucy Lawless as Xena looking very sad on Xena: Warrior Princess &#8211; Universal Television<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Xena was introduced as a fully villainous character on <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/1790573\/ryan-gosling-shared-universe-tv-show-young-hercules\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:&quot;Hercules&quot; (the first show in what would eventually become a franchise);elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">&#8220;Hercules&#8221; (the first show in what would eventually become a franchise)<\/a>, and in the opening scenes of\u00a0her spin-off series, she happens upon a burned-down village that a little boy tells her was ravaged by Xena, not knowing who she is. Though she clearly didn&#8217;t ravage the village, her legacy is undeniably a violent one, and she looks rather devastated by this realization. She then buries her weapons and strips down to just her white underdress, and Stewart felt that she fully intended to kill herself. As he put it:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"mb-4 border-l-2 pl-5 italic text-tertiary\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;The opening scene was Xena burying her weapons \u2014 I&#8217;ve always thought she was considering suicide at that point, although I never felt it was appropriate to bring up such a dark theme in a show that would appeal to young people. In my mind, if Xena hadn&#8217;t heard the cries of people in distress, she would have ended it all right there. But when she hears those cries, she has an instant epiphany. [&#8230;]\u00a0She decides to dedicate her life and actions to helping those threatened by the same kind of ruthless violence she herself once perpetrated.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Instead, she goes on to become a hero for the ages who helps all kinds of people and inspires a whole generation of kids to let out their warrior yell and throw clothes hangers as if they were chakrams. (Unless it was just me?) It&#8217;s hard to imagine Xena just giving up, but since she thought she was irredeemable, maybe it was &#8220;the right thing&#8221; in her mind, even if it wasn&#8217;t. Eventually, she would sacrifice herself for the greater good and redeem herself as much as was possible, but even that ended up being a bit of a bummer since she had to die and then not come back from the dead (even though she totally had the opportunity). What the heck, &#8220;Xena&#8221; writers? Can&#8217;t a former warlord who&#8217;s saved countless lives catch a break?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">If you&#8217;re looking for the easiest way to keep up with all the major movie and TV news, why not <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/subscribe.slashfilm.com\/newsletter-syndicated\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:sign up to our free newsletter;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">sign up to our free newsletter<\/a>?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/1969501\/xena-warrior-princess-lucy-lawless-opening-scene-dark-themes\/?zsource=yahoo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:original article on SlashFilm;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">original article on SlashFilm<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Xena: Warrior\u00a0Princess&#8221;\u00a0was kind of an anomaly. Co-created by Robert Tapert &amp; John Schulian and developed by R.J. Stewart &amp;\u00a0Sam Raimi as\u00a0a spin-off of the TV series &#8220;Hercules: The Legendary Journeys,&#8221;\u00a0&#8220;Xena&#8221;\u00a0was a women-forward show where its lead was a badass with a complicated past, and that meant sometimes it got a little dark. Xena (played by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2059560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[360622,346127,383877,360623],"class_list":["post-2059559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-lucy-lawless","tag-universal-television","tag-xena","tag-xena-warrior-princess"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Warrior-Princess-Opening-Scene-Was-Way-Darker-Than-You-Realized.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2059559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2059559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2059559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2059560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2059559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2059559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2059559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}