Xena: Warrior Princess' Opening Scene Was Way Darker Than You Realized

"Xena: Warrior Princess" was kind of an anomaly. Co-created by Robert Tapert & John Schulian and developed by R.J. Stewart & Sam Raimi as a spin-off of the TV series "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys," "Xena" was a women-forward show where its lead was a badass with a complicated past, and that meant sometimes it got a little dark. Xena (played by the inimitable Lucy Lawless) did all kinds of things to try and atone for her villainous past and some of her darker deeds were eventually revealed on the series, but apparently one of the show's darkest moments happened in the opening of the very first episode.

In an Entertainment Weekly oral history celebrating the 30th anniversary of the series, Stewart shared that an early sequence that shows Xena burying her weapons had a rather dark inspiration. Before she's able to finish burying them  she's interrupted by a group of villagers being harassed by warriors, so she digs up her chakram (her disc-shaped throwing blade) and scares away the warriors. It's the beginning of her attempts at leaving her life as a bloodthirsty warlord behind, which serves as the main thrust of "Xena." However, according to Stewart, her original plan was to bury her gear before going off somewhere else to die. Instead she decides to dedicate her life to being better and helping others, which rules. Still, the idea that "Xena" starts with its namesake contemplating her own death is pretty intense. Then again, this is "Xena," so intense is kind of to be expected, right?

Xena was introduced as a fully villainous character on "Hercules" (the first show in what would eventually become a franchise), and in the opening scenes of her spin-off series, she happens upon a burned-down village that a little boy tells her was ravaged by Xena, not knowing who she is. Though she clearly didn't ravage the village, her legacy is undeniably a violent one, and she looks rather devastated by this realization. She then buries her weapons and strips down to just her white underdress, and Stewart felt that she fully intended to kill herself. As he put it:

"The opening scene was Xena burying her weapons — I've always thought she was considering suicide at that point, although I never felt it was appropriate to bring up such a dark theme in a show that would appeal to young people. In my mind, if Xena hadn't heard the cries of people in distress, she would have ended it all right there. But when she hears those cries, she has an instant epiphany. [...] She decides to dedicate her life and actions to helping those threatened by the same kind of ruthless violence she herself once perpetrated."

Instead, she goes on to become a hero for the ages who helps all kinds of people and inspires a whole generation of kids to let out their warrior yell and throw clothes hangers as if they were chakrams. (Unless it was just me?) It's hard to imagine Xena just giving up, but since she thought she was irredeemable, maybe it was "the right thing" in her mind, even if it wasn't. Eventually, she would sacrifice herself for the greater good and redeem herself as much as was possible, but even that ended up being a bit of a bummer since she had to die and then not come back from the dead (even though she totally had the opportunity). What the heck, "Xena" writers? Can't a former warlord who's saved countless lives catch a break?