Xena Reboot

Quake42

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Apr 30, 2015
MaidOfKandar said:
Ohhh this is going to be painful.  

They're mostly trying to (belatedly) cash in on the Hunger Games.  But they seem to have no idea that the point of Xena is camp.

Well... It was camp, certainly, but it also did gut-wrenching drama and dealt with some dark and serious issues. Of course, it often did so while being ludicrously camp or sometimes just plain dumb.

It was a one-off and I think it's going to be very, very difficult to reboot effectively.

That said, Raimi and Tapert are involved and it's clear from the new writer's Twitter that he knows he's dealing with a beloved show which he needs to show proper respect to. I'm cautiously optimistic. Hopefully we'll at least get a handover with the original cast.
 

MaidOfKandar

I May Be Bad But I Feel...Good....
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Mar 31, 2013
You do make a good point - the show did have credible angst and drama!
 

MaidOfKandar

I May Be Bad But I Feel...Good....
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Mar 31, 2013
Bumping this because we have actual series news now and it's not necessarily good; Javier Grilo-Marxuach, who'd been named the show's Running EP, has left the show due to "insurmountable creative differences"
 

Nick el Ass

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This whole project has seemed doomed from the start, and now it seems like part of the reason he decided to leave is because he wanted to make a new show while paying tribute to the original. NBC apparently wasn't a fan of the idea, and likely wanted to wipe the slate completely clean with a new hip young cast which is a mistake. Xena fans are hardcore if anything.
 

MaidOfKandar

I May Be Bad But I Feel...Good....
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Mar 31, 2013
At this point I'm wondering where the creative differences are coming from - the EP side (Rob and Sam) or NBC?

I'm sad because Grilo-Marxuach has the right resume to pull this off (he co-created Middleman! He was a running EP on Lost! He gets the point at which camp and angst collide!). Xena fandom will eat them alive if they fuck up either the tone or the Gabby/Xena relationship. It's one of those things where you have to eggshell tread.
 

Toxic34

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Nov 12, 2016
This hasn't been posted on here, but I assume everyone knows. In August, NBC announced that they couldn't find any scripts good enough to replace what Grillo-Marxauch had been cooking up, and that the reboot is dead in the water. They said "don't count it out for good, but in its current iteration, it is simply a non-starter."

Pretty sad, but at least I hadn't tied everything to it like I did with Neill Blomkamp's Alien film, and 20th Century Fox's cruel cock tease concerning that in an attempt to drive interest into Alien: Covenant.
 

MaidOfKandar

I May Be Bad But I Feel...Good....
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Mar 31, 2013
I'm glad it's dead; there's of course a way to reboot Xena, a way to continue the story, but taking out the fun and humor is a bad idea.
 

Nick el Ass

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Indianapolis
Not surprised to see the remake is no longer going forward as it seems like every article I have seen focused solely on the idea of exploring/exploiting the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle like Grillo-Marxuach said he planed to do. The original series played around with that aspect of the story, but they made the show more well rounded... and it isn't something fans would have taken lightly to.


https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/xena-warrior-princess-reboot-dead-at-nbc-1031380
 

MaidOfKandar

I May Be Bad But I Feel...Good....
Staff member
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Mar 31, 2013
Honestly, they were caught between a rock and a hard place - between trying to please the show's enormous queer fanbase, trying to please the network (who wanted a more serious reboot) and trying to be true to an extremely campy at times canon.  They were headed for an AvED like experience IMO.
 

Nick el Ass

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Aug 20, 2007
Location
Indianapolis
Ash vs Evil Dead at least had a promising start, and there is still a chance for redemption. I'm not sure a Xena reboot will ever see the light of day let alone be moderately successful.
 
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