Last year, NBC announced that The 100 writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach was developing a Xena: Warrior Princess revival that would finally ditch the subtext and make the title character openly gay. It seemed like the kind of rare revival idea that would retain the spirit of the character while still updating it in a way that feels more modern. Unfortunately, The Hollywood Reporter says that Grillo-Marxuach left the project a few months ago, and so rather than try to find someone new, NBC has decided to cancel the revival entirely.
In a statement, NBC Entertainment president Jennifer Salke said, “nothing is happening on that right now,” and after looking at “some material,” the network decided that Xena “didn’t warrant the reboot.” She suggests that NBC might come back to it eventually, “because it’s such a beloved title,” but the version that was in the works up until now “is dead.” 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.
