Part of the massive fallout from Lexa’s death on The 100 was writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach (also known for Lost) told everyone he was working on a reboot of Xena: Warrior Princess. And best of all? He wanted it to be GAY.
In 2016 Grillo-Marxuach told THR:
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 the 1990s].
We all clapped our hands and cheered! Here was a writer who was openly unhappy with the treatment of queers on television and who wanted to give us more.
It Was Too Soon To Cheer
We counted our chickens before they were lain. In April 2017, Grillo-Marxuach announced he’d left the reboot back in February or so!
these two ladies were NOT happy to hear i've left the #xena reboot. pic.twitter.com/ppiTK01tts
— javi grillo-marxuach (@OKBJGM) April 2, 2017
It wasn’t until this month that we got real news as to how dead the show was. NBC Entertainment president Jennifer Salke told THR that said the proposed revival in its most recent form is dead.
Nothing is happening on that right now. We looked at some material; we decided at that point that it didn’t warrant the reboot. I’d never say never on that one because it’s such a beloved title, but the current incarnation of it is dead.
This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
I suppose it was too much to ask to get a totally gay reboot, and NBC certainly isn’t saying that’s why it was thumbs-downed. But. In a way I’m glad. Grillo-Marxuach was a champion of diversity and once he was gone, my heart worried that we’d actually get a super-gay Xena. And he’s very right. If we’re not getting a gay Xena, there’s really little point in rebooting the campy masterpiece.
And, as the AV Club pointed out:
Based on some comments from back when he left the project, it sounds like Grillo-Marxuach was concerned that NBC didn’t want to emphasize the romance angle as much as he did.
Would I rather have no reboot than a straight reboot?
Yeah, I really would.
