There's a script floating around for the aborted reboot that has Xena be part of Hercules's gang (and in fact is implied to have been the real brains behind the successes of his labors) before she's cast out. Hercules would have been the bad guy, Gabrille would have been a Scythian, and Callisto was meant to show up at some point too. Presumably we would have gotten the Amazons at some point, maybe Alti, etc.
It probably would have been too dark/gritty and miss some of the campy charm of the original, but Xena mixed with the tone and epicness of Historia would be AMAZING.
The script is by the then showrunner, Javier Grillo-Marxuach of The Middleman, Lost and Dark Crystal fame. It, along with his original “pitch” and season 1 outline are available on his website.
I greatly enjoyed parts of the pilot script, but was unsure about other parts. I believe the Scythians were to replace the Amazons as it was intended to have a more … grounded tone (i.e. there were no “gods” (Ares was going to be a warlord) or mythological beasts).
I don’t think it was intended to be anywhere near as campy / cheesy as the original series, but there was still going to be humour.
Actually yeah that's right, I recall now that Hercules was only going to be the "Son of Zeus" because he cultivated that reputation around himself, but it wouldn't be real.
It was an interesting approach with some really cool ideas. I'd rather have a big budget fantasy series for a Xena reboot, with the Greek myth elements treated with more seriousness, but some of the grounded ideas from this pitch could still be used
Yeah. The fantasy elements are part of the appeal.
The overall pitch is really cool, but I'd change it to the Gods and monsters actually existing. So Ares would be a God, and Hercules would be the son of Zeus whose labors include the Hydra, Nemean Lion, etc. (but Xena would still play a big part in his successes).
I'm assuming this Xena pitch was a post-Nolan Batman "realistic and gritty" thing.
I’ve seen people on here say that WW is treated badly by DC. But isn’t that the case with quite a few of their female characters, just that it’s more noticeable with WW because she’s such a high profile character.
I mean, yes. If WW herself isn't done well by DC then it's not likely they'll care to bring up her ancillary character/villains.
Just at look Harley as Psy-Lock brought up. Terrible and unenjoyable character all around but she'll be completely fine by virtue of her connection to Batman.