Xena: Warrior Princess/Trivia

• Acting for Two:
  • Three Xena look-alikes -- Princess Diana, barmaid Meg, and Virgin Priestess Leah -- show up through out the series.
  • Gabrielle got one: her grown-up Fetus Terrible, Hope.
  • Also, Ted Raimi played Joxer and his two identical triplet brothers: assassin Jett and Camp Gay musician Jace).
  • Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer also have multiple identical descendants, reincarnations and clones.
  • Not to mention one episode that featured identical reincarnations of all three... but with Xena and Joxer switched (to enable Xena and Gabrielle to finally get a Happily Ever After).
• Actor Allusion:
  • "The Play's The Thing" features a Centaur actor played by Peter Muller, who played Deric the Centaur on Hercules (and his name is Dustinus Hoofmanus).
  • "Here She Comes, Miss Amphipolis" sees Xena go undercover at a beauty pageant. Lucy Lawless is no stranger to beauty pageants.
  • Autolycus being made to punch himself in the face by Xena while she's inhabiting his body brings to mind a certain other role that Bruce Campbell has had.
• Creator Backlash: Rob Tapert has admitted the fifth season wasn't all it could have been.
• Directed by Cast Member:
  • Bruce Campbell did "The Key to the Kingdom".
  • Renee O'Connor did "Déjà Vu All Over Again" and "Dangerous Prey".
  • Michael Hurst, who starred on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and made several guest appearances on Xena directed quite a few of the better done episodes. In fact, he was such a recurrent director, that the cast and crew, (all the way up to the executive producers) started to call him "Cup-Of-Blood-Michael" due to his love of using fake blood, and penchant to want more and more. You can thank him for the episode "To Helicon and Back"; one of the most gruesome and violent episodes in both the shows history, and that of television.
• Dye Hard: Lawless and O'Connor are both natural blondes; Lawless dyed her hair black (on Hercules) then brown, while O'Connor dyed hers red for most of the show's first two seasons.
• Flip-Flop of God: Ongoing after the show ended. Mostly regarding the nature of Xena and Gabrielle's relationship. Of note, around the time of the finale, Lucy Lawless felt it was "more than friends" due to a particular scene. By the time of recording DVD commentaries, this opinion was reversed.
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Pandora is played by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, known for her many voiceover roles in video game and anime dubbing, and for providing vocals for many Silent Hill songs.
• Non-Singing Voice: Both Gabrielle and Callisto in "The Bitter Suite", and Gabrielle again in "Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire" (although the latter counts as a subversion - Renee O'Connor is one of three performers who do Gabby's singing here, according to the soundtrack album credits!). Averted with Xena and Joxer in both episodes, Ares in the former, and Draco (and Amoria) in the latter.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Hades was portrayed by Erik Thomson (who was also initially The Other Darrin on Hercules) until he was replaced by Stephen Lovatt for Season 5.
  • Same for Cleopatra who was originally played by Gina Torres.
• Production Posse: Both Hercules and Xena were Directed by Sam Raimi and both feature Recurring Character, Autolycus the King of Thieves (played by Bruce Campbell) and Joxer the Mighty (played by younger brother, Theodore Raimi).
• Running the Asylum: Several episodes of the 6th season of were actually written by a (critically acclaimed) Fan Fic writer who was approached by the creators of the show and asked to write a bunch of episodes.
• Trope Namer:
  • Xenafication: But is not itself an example.
  • A Wizard Did It: Sorta.
• Viral Marketing: In a very early example, in 1995 the show's website (itself unusual for a show at the time) featured an archive of e-mails between researchers working on "The Xena Scrolls".
• What Could Have Been:
  • A version of the script for "The Furies" would have revealed that Ares was indeed Xena's father (this was changed due to 1) not wanting Xena to be a half-god like Hercules, and 2) the Squick factor that would result from Ares' constant interest in Xena). The final version is ambiguous enough that some people assume this to be the case anyway.
  • The episode "Intimate Stranger" was suppose to end with Xena getting her body back from Callisto but when Lucy Lawless had injured herself the ending was changed to have her still trapped in Callisto's body so that Callisto's actress could fill in for Xena for the following up.
• The Wiki Rule: The Hercules and Xena Wiki
• Written in Infirmity: Multiple times:
  • When Lucy Lawless was thrown from a horse during a stunt on The Tonight Show, it triggered a story arc where Xena was in a death-like trance and her soul had to be carried in the bodies of other characters on the show. Thus, "Xena" could still appear on the show while Lucy Lawless was recuperating. Two of the soul-carriers were Xena's enemy Callisto and Autolycus, the King of Thieves.
  • Gabrielle spraining her ankle in "One Against an Army" was written because Renee O'Connor really did sprain her ankle during production. It's even acknowledged in the credits.