“Xena” — which featured Lawless roving around ancient Greece as a warrior out to right violent wrongs and make up for her warlord past — proved a global hit during its zenith, becoming one of the most syndicated shows in history. It was eventually canceled in 2001, with producers citing waning interest and high production costs.
Fans on Saturday lined up at the Marriott’s convention center and payed between $30 and $400 to be among like-minded individuals and former cast members. But unlike Star Trek’s famous “Trekkies,” most of the almost exclusively female crowd did not don ancient Greek costumes or attempt to take on the likeness of a character down to his or her speech.
For most of these women, it was about camaraderie and shared interest.
Paula Brathwaite, who flew in from Toronto and moderates an online “Xena” message board, said the show’s central theme of Xena and her sidekick, Gabrielle, overcoming the odds together as independent women in an ancient male-dominated landscape quickly drew common bonds from its female fans.
“They saw something in themselves that they really wanted to strive for,” she said.
Much was made during the show’s run about the sexual innuendo between Xena and her fighting companion, Gabrielle, which fueled a large lesbian fan base — one that is always well-represented at conventions, said Gary Berman, co-owner of Creation Entertainment, a Glendale-based promotion company that put on the event.
Lawless put speculation to rest during a 2001 appearance on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” when she said the show’s finale had finally allayed her own doubts that the character she’d been playing for six years was indeed a lesbian.
