Despite hordes of romantic fan fiction pairing Xena and Gabriella from the '90s fantasy classic Xena: Warrior Princess, both characters were never confirmed as lovers. However, with a new reboot on the horizon, it looks like that may all change. In a recent interview, executive producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach says there will be no question about their sexuality—both characters will be out, proud and together. This is the exact opposite of BBC’s Sherlock, which features plenty of homosexual undertones but creator Steven Moffat insists the titular character is not gay.
"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 [sic] in first-run syndication in the 1990s," he wrote on Tumblr, according to Jezebel. Remember, this was the same decade where it was even taboo to talk about a lot of things on TV, like having AIDS. Pedro Zamora broke ground on the topic by admitting to having the disease during the inaugural season of MTV’sReal World: San Francisco in 1994.
"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," Grillo-Marxuach added.
This gives fans much needed resolution after decades of discussions. Per a 2003 interview, even actress Lucy Lawless believed that her character wasn’t entirely straight. "There was always a 'Well, she might be or she might not be' but when there was that drip of water passing between their lips in the very final scene, that cemented it for me. Now it wasn’t just that Xena was bisexual and kinda liked her gal pal and they kind of fooled around sometimes, it was 'Nope, they’re married, man.'"
