Finally, after a successful six-year run, Xena: Warrior Princess ended production in the northern spring of 2001 with its full 22-episode sixth and final season airing through the American summer.
There is no doubt continuing reruns will keep Xena on worldwide television for many more years to come.
Xena is seen in more than 115 countries, with the series debuting in US national syndication in September 1995. The protagonist is based on a popular character introduced in the companion series, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.
Xena is played with brio and bravura by New Zealand actor Lucy Lawless who was born in Auckland, worked in Australia, New Zealand, and other countries, and has become a cult figure among her legion of adoring fans.
Life-and-afterlife adventures
Studios USA, exclusive distributor of Xena in the US, says the series "chronicles the life-and-death-and-afterlife adventures of the fierce and fearless warrior princess, played by Lucy Lawless, and her warrior bard sidekick Gabrielle, played by Renée O'Connor.
"In their travels through ancient imaginary lands, the two fight to protect the powerless even as they struggle with their own inner demons.
"The stories of their adventures blend drama with humor and feature spectacular action, cutting-edge special effects and a knowing modern-day sensibility."
Fifth of seven children
Born Lucille Frances Ryan in Auckland, New Zealand, Lawless was fifth of seven children, and the first daughter born to Frank and Julie Ryan.
She studied at Auckland University, traveled through Europe, picked grape on the Rhine, then went to Australia when she and then boyfriend Garth Lawless ran out of money. The two worked with a gold mining company outside of Kalgoorlie, about 500 miles from Perth.
They married in Australia, then returned to New Zealand where daughter Daisy was born.
Filming in New Zealand
An interest in acting resulted in some work with New Zealand television. Later, she moved with her family to Vancouver, Canada, and enrolled in the William Davis Center for Actors Study.
Returning to New Zealand, she worked in a number of television and film productions.
She was first brought to the attention of American audiences when she landed the role of Lysia in Hercules and the Amazon Women, an episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys which was being filmed in her native New Zealand.
Hercules spin-off
Her big break came in another Hercules episode when Lawless was cast as Xena, as a replacement for another actor, in a three-episode arc, which spun off into her own series, Xena: Warrior Princess in September 1995.
Divorced from Garth Lawless, she has since remarried (to Xena: Warrior Princess executive producer Rob Tapert).
