"There is no reason to bring back 'Xena'... [if not to] fully explore a relationship that could only be shown subtextually in the 1990s."

Xena And Gabrielle Will Definitely Be Lovers In “Xena” Reboot

It looks like the reboot of Xena: Warrior Princess is still moving ahead at NBC, and if screenwriter Javier Grillo-Marxuach has his way, the lesbian subtext from the 1990s cult-fave series will come out of the closet.

NBC ordered a Xena pilot from Grillo-Marxuach, but fans were worried that after a lesbian character on his other series, The 100, was controversially killed off, Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship might be muted.

On Tumblr, he confirmed that Xena and Gabrielle would be lovers for sure.

I am a very different person with a very different world view than my employer on The 100—and my work on The 100 was to use my skills to bring that vision to life. Xena will be a very different show made for very different reasons. there is no reason to bring back Xena if it is not there for the purpose of fully exploring a relationship that could only be shown subtextually in first-run syndication in the 1990s. It will also express my view of the world – which is only further informed by what is happening right now – and is not too difficult to know what that is if you do some digging.

While it was limited by what you could get away with on TV at the time, Xena had a huge lesbian following, and dealt with issues involving sexuality and gender long before other genre shows dared.

Both Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor have openly praised their queer audience.

“At the time we were actually filming it, we were so busy going, ’Okay, what is this character’s plot objective?,'” O’Connor told Girlfriends magazine in 2004.

“I didn’t really think how much this would affect the gay community, and I’m really proud of being a part of it. I think it’s fantastic.”

h/t: Vanity Fair