Lucy Lawless Movies

Where once upon a time Xena, the Warrior Princess, could take on armies with just her strength and her cunning, now anyone with a DVD player can hold her fate in their hands. Xena: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun is an interactive computer-animated DVD in which Xena and her partners Joxer and Gabrielle are forced to do battle with an army of vampires spawned by Bacchus; at key points of the story, the viewer must choose which actions the characters should take, and the result is an action story which can be played back in hundreds of different ways. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Lucy Lawless stars in this dramatic short subject which predated her rise to fame as an action star on the television shows Hercules: The Legendary Adventures and Xena: Warrior Princess. Sal (Tania Simon) is a woman from New Zealand who is involved in a going-nowhere relationship with Mog (Joel Tobeck), a hulking brute who shows her little respect. A chance encounter with an easy-going female truck driver (Lawless) encourages Sal to take more chances in her life, symbolized by the purchase of a tasty but out-of-season peach. For video release, Peach was paired with another short subject featuring Lucy Lawless, A Bitter Song, in which she plays a nurse working with a young girl with emotional problems. Some video editions of the film include a third film, Lavender Limelight: Lesbians in Film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The Gods have thrown Prometheus (John Freeman) in chains, and Mankind is in danger of losing the gifts the captive has bestowed upon them -- including the ability to create fire and the capacity to cure disease. In order to rescue Prometheus, Xena (Lucy Lawless) must get her hands upon a mystic sword. But first she must fight for possession of the sword with her old "friendly enemy" Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) -- who knows full well the horrible fate awaiting anyone who releases Prometheus from his bonds. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Falsely accused of killing four villagers, Xena (Lucy Lawless) is besieged by the friends of the victims. Once she and Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) have been captured and locked up, Xena is confronted by Ares (Kevin Smith), the God of War, who explains that the slaughter of the villagers was all part of his master plan to make her his bride. But Xena would sooner face death than resume her old warlike ways. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The clouds of war are gathering between the Amazons and the Centaurs. Xena (Lucy Lawless) tries to find out who is playing one side against the other in this Clash of the Myths. The plot thickens when Xena's traveling companion, Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), is unexpectedly afforded the opportunity to become an Amazon princess. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the debut episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, the title character, played by Lucy Lawless, has forsaken her former evil ways and has committed herself to burying the past and protecting the innocent. The first task for the "reformed" Xena is to rescue a group of village girls from the minions of the warlord Draco (Jay Laga'aia). Among the damsels in distress is young Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), who latches onto Xena in hopes of finding adventure and excitement. Meanwhile, Xena must face the triple threat of Draco, a disgruntled Cyclops (Patrick Wilson), and a spell of really bad weather. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Princess Jana (Nicola Cliff), a friend of Xena (Lucy Lawless), has been kidnapped, an act that threatens to spark a terrible war. A duplicitous arms dealer who used to be one of Xena's cronies is responsible for the abduction. Can Xena trust another of her old acquaintances, her ex-lover Marcus (Bobby Hosea), to help her save Jana and avert the war? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) is kidnapped and spirited away to the mystical realm of Dreamscape. In her efforts to rescue Gabrielle, Xena (Lucy Lawless) must perform a series of grueling tasks, made all the more difficult by the spectre summoned from her own dark past. Meanwhile, the Dream God Morphius eagerly awaits the outcome of Xena's ordeal, hoping to ultimately claim her for his bride. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lucy Lawless, previously seen on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys as the duplicitous Lyla, makes her first appearance as fierce and fearsome warrior princess Xena. Determined to gain full control of the land of Arcadia, Xena realizes that she must first kill Hercules (Kevin Sorbo). Posing as a damsel in distress, she lures Hercules' friend Iolaus (Kevin Hurst) into a trap, the better to lure our hero out in the open. The climactic confrontation between Hercules and Xena is capped by a deadly promise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) and his cousin Iloran (Dean O'Gorman) are determined to put an end to plundering and pillaging of warrior princess Xena (Lucy Lawless). As it turns out, however, the real villain of the piece is not Xena, but instead her treacherous lieutenant Darphus (Matthew Chamberlain). When Xena unexpectedly shows compassion in battle, Darphus accuses her of being unfit to lead her minions, forcing her to run the deadly Gauntlet ritual. This puts Hercules in the embarrassing position of having to join forces with his old enemy Xena in order to expunge the "greater evil." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Created by John Schulian and Robert Tapert, the New Zealand-filmed Xena: Warrior Princess was a spin-off of the tongue-in-cheek "sword and sorcery" series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. As introduced on Hercules, Xena (Lucy Lawless) was a fierce and formidable villainess, the leader of a vast army bent on destruction and devastation. There was some justification for this: As a child, Xena had witnessed the destruction of her home village and the brutal murder of her brother at the hands of a despotic warlord. At first forming her army to protect other peasants like herself, she became consumed with a lust for power and was soon conquering for the sake of being the conqueror. But through her association with the virtuous Hercules, Xena experienced an epiphany, casting off her former evil ways and devoting the rest of her life to making amends to her victims and protecting the innocent -- a task complicated by the many enemies she had made during her Warrior Princess years, who neither forgave nor forgot, and by the unsavory alliances she had forged during those same years. No sooner had Xena "seen the light" than she rescued the citizens of a village besieged by yet another evil warlord. Among those saved was young and beautiful Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), an aspiring "bard" (writer and artist) who became Xena's constant companion, first because she idolized the former warrior princess and was eager to experience adventure first-hand, but ultimately because she was Xena's devoted friend and confidant.
In the course of the series' six seasons, Xena and Gabrielle journeyed through Greece, Italy, Scandanavia, Africa, India, and China, with side trips to the Underworld -- ruled by Xena's erstwhile crony Hades -- and to the future, in which the two heroines found themselves in reincarnated form. Predicated on the theory that anything is possible in a fantasy series, both Xena and Gabrielle were "killed" and "resurrected" on several occasions, and both bore children who grew up to become their nemeses: Xena's daughter Eve (Adrienne Wilkinson) reached adulthood as the much-feared warrior queen Livia, the lover of war god Ares (Kevin Smith), while Gabrielle's offspring Hope (Amy Morrison), whose father was "force of darkness" Dahak, would have to be killed at her mother's hand in order to save Mankind (Xena also had reason to despise Hope; it was she who killed Xena's long-estranged son, Solon). In one memorable instance, Xena briefly assumed the form of another woman -- a metamorphosis necessitated by a real-life accident which sidelined Lucy Lawless for several weeks. Lest this all sound a bit grim and morbid, it must be noted that the series, like its predecessor, Hercules, had a healthy, irreverent sense of humor, as encapsulated by the light-hearted "disclaimers" which appeared at the end of each episode. There was also time to spoof such modern-day phenomena as beauty contests, spaghetti Westerns, Danny Kaye films, theme parks, pro wrestling, Broadway musicals, and even such TV shows as You Are There and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There was also a cheerily contemptuous disregard for the time line of "real" history, with Xena and Gabrielle crossing the paths of Julius Caesar, Ulysses, Genghis Khan, Cleopatra, David and Goliath, Brunnhilde, and many other past "celebrities," both genuine and imaginary. Generally, the series' jocular treatment of Myth, Mysticism, Religion, and Reality was accepted in the spirit in which it was intended; but on one occasion, an angry protest from a Hindu extremist group obliged the producers to remove the fourth season episode "The Way" from the series' rerun package.
Of Xena's many recurring characters, the best known and most often seen included Xena and Gabrielle's clumsy, wannabe warrior friend Joxer (Ted Raimi); Xena's mortal enemy, the blonde female warrior Callisto (Hudson Leick); troublesome traveling salesman Salmoneus (Robert Trebor); self-proclaimed king of thieves Autolycus (Bruce Campbell); Amazon princess Ephiny (Danielle Cormack), who enabled Gabrielle to join her all-female tribe; teenaged Amazon Amarice (Jennifer Sky), who became to Gabrielle what Gabrielle was to Xena; healer and shaman Eli (Timothy Omundson), Gabrielle's spiritual mentor; and an impressive array of "immortals," including the aforementioned Ares and Hades, goddess of love Aphrodite (Alexandra Tydings), sea deity Poseidon (Charles Siebert, who also directed several episodes), and the puckish Cupid (Karl Urban, who also played Julius Caesar). And, of course, the star of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Kevin Sorbo, made a few courtesy calls on Xena. Syndicated in the U.S. beginning September 15, 1995, Xena: Warrior Princess was subsequently telecast in practically every English-speaking country in the world, then went on to virtually every other country where television existed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Once again, series star Lucy Lawless essays the dual role of Xena and her lookalike, Princess Diana. To protect Diana as she prepares to assume the throne from her dying father, Xena switches places with the Princess, and vice versa. As a result, Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) and Joxer (Ted Raimi) become hopelessly confused -- and even more so when another Xena lookalike, a barmaid named Meg (played -- surprise, surprise -- by Lucy Lawless) arrives on the scene with an agenda of her own. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Winter Solstice won't be coming this year thanks to cranky old King Sylvius (Peter Vere-Jones), who has not only outlawed the holiday, but is poised to evict the local orphans. Xena (Lucy Lawless) is all for punching out Sylvius, but Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), exhibiting the true Solstice Spirit, suggests another method of setting things right. All this leads to a dickens of a denouement, with the help of a local toy maker named Senticles (say all the syllables out loud) and the "timely" arrival of the Three Fates at the King's bedside. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide