What's Gabrielle From 'Xena: Warrior Princess' up to These Days?

Fantasy fans were truly blessed in the '90s because, not only did they get one sword n' sorcery series with Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, but right after Kevin Sorbo's "Tower of Power" TV hour, there was another show that debuted only a few months later after its success: Xena: Warrior Princess.

If you've never seen the series, I'll break down the fantastic relationship between Xena and Gabrielle. Xena started off as a featured character in The Legendary Journeys, and fan reactions to the badass, played by New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless, were so positive that she got her own spinoff show that follows the Warrior Princess' path to redemption. You see, Xena used to be a ruthless warlord and, seeing the error of her ways, wants to make amends.

She does this by engaging in tons of cool "side quests" and missions that feature her fighting for the dispossessed and subjugated. On her journeys early on, she befriends a small-town bard by the name of Gabrielle, played by Renee O'Connor.

The chemistry between the two was a match made in TV heaven, there's something about them that just resonated with fans. 

While a lot of people wouldn't bat an eye today at a TV show that featured a gay couple as its primary protagonists, Xena: Warrior Princess debuted in a very different climate. And while anyone with eyes could see that the "subtext" was done entirely on purpose, it was never really addressed or confirmed in the show that Gabrielle and Xena were an item.

However, Lucy Lawless has stated that yes, Xena was not only gay but she and Gabrielle were practically a married couple. Again, this isn't news to anyone who's ever watched the show, but it's nice to know that it's been officially confirmed by the show's lead, who, initially was supposed to die in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, but then the spinoff happened and those plans were dashed!

Actress Renee O'Connor got her first on-screen pro credit in 1989, when she played Nancy Nichols in Teen Angel. She had a slew of movie and TV show appearances before eventually nabbing the role of Gabrielle thanks to Sunny Doench pulling out for not wanting to leave her partner back home in the U.S., as Xena was filmed in New Zealand.

Although Renee's best known for her work on the popular TV series, she also had a bunch of other film and TV roles after Xena came to an end. She was featured on an episode of Criminal Minds, and had a recurring role in the 2010 series, Ark. Her last two acting credits came in 2017 in Watch the Sky and A Question of Faith, although neither of these films were exactly blockbusters.

She tied the knot with actor and producer Jed Sura, who was also in Watch the Sky (he was also a producer), and had roles on Criminal Minds and Grey's Anatomy.

Currently, Renee has been acting in a variety of different theater productions: she most recently played Yelena Andreyevna in the Little Fish Theater's production of Uncle Vanya. Prior to that she was The Wicked Witch of the West in the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center's staging of Wizard of Oz.

As for any upcoming projects, like most folks working in entertainment, the future of filming seems all but halted due to the COVID-19 response. But if you ever wanted to see Renee's work again, you could probably just fire up some Xena — SyFy's got all the episodes available for streaming.