From 1995 to 2001, Xena : Warrior Princess delivered 134 episodes of historical fantasy
with a campy twist. In the years since its finale, it's become a bonafide cult classic.
But what has the cast been up to over the course of the last two decades? We're here to find out.
Though she starts out as a ruthless warrior, Xena's arc bends towards mercy after an epiphany
leads her to seek forgiveness for the many crimes of her past. Meeting the gentle Gabrielle,
who proves to be the perfect counterpoint to Xena's aggression,
certainly helps — with a "good angel" in tow, Xena wends her way towards something like redemption
over the course of the show. That's not to say she doesn't do a whole lot of incredibly cool fighting
along the way, of course. After all, this isn't a show called Xena: Peaceful Princess. But now,
Xena fights for those who can't defend themselves. Over the course of the series, she takes on
evildoers of all kinds, from the pettiest warlords to the mightiest gods, all in the name of justice.
Xena might live an active life, but so does Lucy Lawless, the actor who played her. Since 2001,
in television and film, Lawless has racked up an impressive collection of screen work.
She's had significant character arcs on shows like Battlestar Galactica, The L Word,
Spartacus, Parks and Recreation, and even teamed up with her old Xena co-star Bruce Campbell in
Ash vs. Evil Dead. As for movies, Lawless has also been seen in small roles in Spider-Man,
EuroTrip, The Changeover, and a plethora of television movies. Her next role will
be as the voice of Nunchuk in Minions: The Rise of Gru, slated for a 2021 release.
Xena: Warrior Princess set a high bar for women's representation onscreen. Take Gabrielle:
Played by Renee O'Connor, she starts her arc on the show as a babe-in-the-woods type who tempers
Xena's bloodier instincts. But as she learns how to fight and protect others, Gabrielle grows,
changes, and discovers entirely new facets of herself. Eventually,
Gabrielle becomes a celebrated bard, a skilled warrior, and an actual Amazon.
While Renee O'Connor has continued working in television since her 134-episode run on Xena,
her career has stayed relatively low-key. O'Connor has appeared in a number of made-for-television
movies including Last Chance, and the horror movies Monster Ark and Alien Apocalypse. On
the big screen, O'Connor has had roles in Ghost Town: The Movie, Boogeyman 2, Diamonds and Guns,
and Deadrise. O'Connor's most recent screen credits are from 2017, when she
starred in the drama A Question of Faith and the family sci-fi movie Watch the Sky.
If you're surprised by the seeming scarcity of roles on her resume, don't be — it's only because
O'Connor has shifted from working on the screen to the stage. She's been in productions of Annie,
Uncle Vanya, Mary Poppins, and Romeo and Juliet over the last few years,
earning tremendous acclaim along the way. Sure, it might be weird to imagine sweet Gabrielle as
the fearsome Lady Macbeth, but O'Connor's skill is more than enough to make it work.
While Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor star in every episode of Xena,
Ted Raimi's Joxer the Mighty only appears in 43 episodes. This might come as a surprise
to even the most seasoned Xena fan, such is the strength of Raimi's performance.
"Xena!"
"Yeah?"
"Joxer the Mighty, at your service."
Joxer is a wannabe soldier who accidentally falls in with Xena and Gabrielle,
who tolerate him in spite of his eternal incompetence. Joxer eventually falls in
love with Gabrielle, who briefly returns his affections while under a love spell.
But it fades, of course, and Joxer ultimately marries one of Xena's many lookalikes,
with whom he has many children. Because that's just how things roll in the Xenaverse.
Ted Raimi has gone on to have a booming screen career since Xena's end. He's worked as a voice
actor in Code Monkeys and Buddy Thunderstruck, as well as landing a list of live-action roles on
shows like CSI: NY, Masters of Horror, and Legend of the Seeker. He also starred in his brother Sam
Raimi's Ash Vs. Evil Dead alongside two of his Xena co-stars, Lucy Lawless and Bruce Campbell.
But film is where Raimi's career has really taken off. He's been seen in such blockbusters as all
three of his brother Sam's Spider-Man movies, as well as The Grudge and The Midnight Meat Train.
Like Xena, Ares began as a Hercules: The Legendary Journeys character, played by New Zealander Kevin
Smith. Smoldering Ares is a complicated figure in the Xenaverse — particularly when it comes to
Xena herself. It is Ares that imbues Xena with her violent warrior spirit, and Ares with whom
she has a complex romance. He's complicated, stormy, and played to perfection by Smith.
After Smith's time on Xena, he went on to play the lead role in the TV movie
Lawless: Dead Evidence and a short film called The Meeting. Smith was also in the 2002 martial
arts fantasy film Warriors of Virtue 2: Return to Tao but while filming Warriors of Virtue,
Smith took a tragic fall from a prop tower on the set of another film.
He passed away at the age of 38. His TV movie Riverworld was released posthumously in 2003,
and is his final film. Had he lived, Smith's next project would have been the Bruce Willis
action caper Tears of the Sun set to start filming just one month after his death.
As Xena's nemesis Callisto, Hudson Leick is the picture of malice. A survivor of one of Xena's
past rampages, she lost her village and her family to the warrior princess' bloodlust. Over the
course of 18 episodes, Callisto's sole ambition is to make Xena's life hell whenever possible.
Callisto pretends to be Xena for a while, committing new horrible crimes in her name to stir
up public hatred. She even dies multiple times by Xena's hand, but is continually brought back. She
becomes a warlord, a demon, an angel, and even a goddess over the course of her vengeful journey.
Hudson Leick has had a number of one-off roles in television shows since her stint on Xena,
including Tru Calling, CSI, Nip/Tuck, Shark, and Law and Order: LA. She's also been busy
on the film front, booking appearances in the action thriller Cold Heart, the rom-com
One, Two, Many, and a noirish mystery called Paris Connections. Recently, however, Leick's career has
undergone a major change. She now works primarily as a yoga instructor through her company, Healing
Heart Yoga, through which she runs retreats, teaches classes, and even does astrology readings.
Karl Urban's Julius Caesar is one of Xena's mortal enemies. Seriously: Their first meeting ends in
him breaking her legs and crucifying her. After Xena is resurrected, her enmity towards Caesar
grows until she finally kills him once and for all in season four's "The Ides of March." Even that
isn't the end for Caesar, however — he manages to take the Fates hostage and rewrite reality by
using their magical loom. Xena saves the day, of course, but not before being trapped in an
alternate reality in which she and Caesar rule Rome together as Empress and Emperor.
So what's Urban been up to since Xena went off the air? The better question is,
what hasn't he done? Urban has had significant roles in some of the biggest film franchises
of the last couple of decades, including starring as Eomer in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
and Return of the King, as Bones in Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Star Trek Beyond,
and as Skurge in Thor: Ragnarok. Urban further expanded his superhero resume as Billy Butcher
on Amazon Prime's The Boys, and had a full-season arc as Detective John Kennex in Almost Human.
Urban has also played leading roles in Dredd, The Bourne Supremacy, Doom, and more. He is set
to star in the crime drama Cold Providence, which goes into production in 2021. Karl Urban might not
actually be Julius Caesar, but it turns out that he and Caesar share an unstoppable work ethic.
Alexandra Tydings' Aphrodite has a longer character arc on Hercules,
but the 11 episodes of Xena in which she appears are still
plenty significant. Aphrodite is something of a valley girl in Xena,
often used for comic relief and light-hearted looks into the politics of Mount Olympus.
"Hello? The love goddess is off the clock. I got my own problems."
Her arc turns horrifying, however, when her brother Ares dies and she undergoes
a psychotic break. This results in the total loss of love in the world,
as this emotion cannot exist without the balance provided by war. Naturally,
Xena comes to the rescue by resurrecting Aphrodite and Ares, and thus restoring world order.
As a screen actor, Alexandra Tydings has been fairly quiet since Xena completed its run.
She has had small roles on the 2001 television show Sheena, modern classic The Wire in 2008,
and a handful of other shows and TV movies. From 2015 to 2016, she starred in a number of episodes
of the documentary series From the Mouths of Babes, in which she discusses her time on Xena.
She's also worked as an independent writer, director, and producer on a variety of projects.
The Trial of Hanna Porn, her 2015 look at the struggle for reproductive rights,
won the Best of Fringe award at the Charm City Fringe Festival, while Rainbow Bridge,
a short film covering similar themes, was successfully Kickstarted in 2017.
Many strange characters populate Xena's five seasons, but Eve has to be one of the weirdest
of them all. Played by Adrienne Wilkinson, Eve is Xena's daughter, conceived immaculately to serve
as Callisto's reincarnation after she becomes an angel. Yes, really. Eve is prophesied to be the
"bringer of Twilight," who will end the reign of the Olympian gods. For a huge chunk of Eve's life,
she is hidden away and/or on the run, eventually finding protection with her birth mother,
Xena. She later becomes a missionary of Eli, the Xenaverse's loose take on Jesus Christ.
Actor Adrienne Wilkinson has kept extremely busy since her 11 episodes as Eve on Xena. She
has done a great deal of voice acting for video games including Star Wars: The Force Unleashed,
Command and Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath, The Sopranos: Road to Respect, and Dead To Rights II. Her
television work includes appearances on Undressed, As If, Angel, ER, Charmed, and Star Wars: The
Clone Wars. She's also had small roles in movies including action caper Raze, and more recently
appeared in the 2020 horror flick Dreamkatcher. Wilkinson also wrote, directed, and co-produced
the documentary series From the Mouths of Babes, in which she interviews many of her Xena co-stars.
As ruler of the Amazons, Danielle Cormack's Ephiny is yet another fierce and powerful
woman of the Xenaverse. While she starts out on rocky ground with both Xena and Gabrielle,
over the course of their shared arc, the women eventually become staunch allies.
Ephiny marries the centaur Phantes, and names her child Xenan after Xena,
who performs an emergency c-section during Ephiny's childbirth.
Ephiny is tragically killed in battle protecting her Amazonian tribe, and avenged by Gabrielle.
Danielle Cormack has added an impressive number of New Zealand and Australian TV credits to her
name since appearing on Xena. Cormack starred in young adult fantasy Maddigan's Quest,
the dramedy Rude Awakenings, crime dramas The Strip and Underbelly, drama The Cult,
action-adventure The Legend of the Seeker, courtroom comedy The Rake, prison drama Wentworth,
crime procedural Jack Irish, and rom-com Fresh Eggs. More recently,
she's been working again with her Xena co-star Lucy Lawless on the crime drama My Life Is Murder.
A master escape artist, Autolycus is characterized by a list of standout skills and personality
traits that include his deep sense of justice, excellent disguises, and campy flair. He only
figures in eight episodes, though he has a longer arc on Hercules, but boy does he make those eight
episodes count. Not only is Autolycus an important ally to Xena and Gabrielle, he brings a wonderful,
banter-heavy comedy to the show that fans still relish years after the series' end.
The actor who portrays Autolycus, the legendary Bruce Campbell, needs no introduction. This star
of the iconic Evil Dead series — created by Xena co-star Ted Raimi's brother, Sam — has
been a fearsome force in movies and television for years. Campbell has played significant roles
on Burn Notice, The Replacements, Fargo, and the title role in Ash vs. Evil Dead. Campbell
has also compiled an impressive roster of voice work that includes Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure
and Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. He also made a cameo in the 2013 Evil Dead remake…
"Groovy."
...along with a whole host of other big- and small-screen projects.
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