Back in July, we reported that NBC is in the early stages of developing a reboot of the beloved 1995 fantasy seriesXena: Warrior Princess. OriginalXena: Warrior PrincessproducersSam RaimiandRob Tapertare coming back to produce, and we reported in August that therebootis seeking writers to tackle the story. Today we have word fromVarietythatLostwriterJavier Grillo-Marxuachhas signed on to write and executive produce this new version ofXena: Warrior Princess.
The originalXena: Warrior Princessdebuted in 1995, butLucy Lawless' title character was originally introduced on another first-run syndicated show, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, before she got her own spinoff. Renée O’Connor also starred as Xena’s companion Gabrielle, withTed Raimias Joxer,Bruce Campbellas Autolycus,Marton Csokasas Borias and a youngKarl Urbanin one of his early roles as Julius Caesar. It remains to be seen if any of the supporting cast members will be asked back for the reboot.
Our earlier report revealed thisTV rebootis being eyed for a 2016 debut, and the network is searching for an actress who could combine the charisma and charm of original series starLucy Lawless, with the smarts ofKatnissfromThe Hunger Gamesfranchise. NBC hopes to turn this into an ongoing series, but it isn’t known if the network is eyeing it as a 13-episode limited series run, or if it will get a full 22-episode season. The earlier report also claimed that the network wants to bring original starLucy Lawlessback in some capacity, either as a star or producer.
Lucy Lawless, who is married to producer Rob Tapert, tweeted this summer that the report “was just a rumor,” but Bob Greenblatt said he’d be open to the actress being involved behind-the-scenes in some way. The original series ran from 1995 to 2001, spanning six seasons and 134 episodes, and madeLucy Lawlessa household name. It isn’t known if the network is seeking established actresses for the title role, or if they are seeking unknown actors.
Javier Grillo-Marxuachhas written for a number of prominentTV showssuch as The Pretender,Charmed,Lost,Mediumand, most recently,Helix. It isn’t known who will direct the pilot at this time, but it seems possible thatSam Raimicould direct the first episode, like he did with the Starz seriesAsh Vs. Evil Dead. What do you think about theXena: Warrior Princessreboot moving forward at NBC?
