Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2002 23:17:29 -1000 (HST) From: Jackie M. Young Subject: Chakram #16 <> Just got my Chakram #16 newsletter in the mail (last of the Fan Club Kit #4 issues), and it had a *very* interesting interview with RJ Stewart (Ex. Producer., head writer, etc.) about FIN. Basically, he confirms what many of us who liked the ending guessed about TPTB's motives. (I'll try to make this short, but will be _difficult_. ;( ) "SD", of course, is Sharon Delaney. ;) ======= RJ: If we're going to do a ghost story, the ghost has to be Xena.... ...Then I said to Rob that this is the opportunity for her to make the ultimate sacrifice and get the ultimate redemption we've been withholding from her for years. Let's not bring her back to life. We didn't go into this trying to figure out how to kill Xena. [Rob]...looked at me for a while and I thought for sure he was going to say no and we'd move on to another idea. I even found myself thinking, "What a nutty idea I just had." He left the room for a bit and when he came back in he said, "Yeah, let's do it."... SD: Is death the only way to get redemption? RJ: It's not the only way, but it certainly is an incredibly dramatic way and that is what appealed to us. And I'm so glad we did it. SD: Did you have any doubts? RJ: That day I had some, but once I slept on the idea, I was very much committed to it. Rob has been tormented by it.... [Discussion about ROC/Gabrielle.] RJ: ...[Rob] said to me, "Renee O'Connor is playing this part." I didn't know who she was.... Renee read [auditioned] fine, but I can't say that she leaped out as the obvious choice. But Rob had such faith in her. After the first day's dailies, I knew Rob had been one hundred percent right. [Discussion of why Rob chose Sins and Callisto to rerun right before FIN; RJ said it was a perfect lead-up to the end, to show the beginning, and how Xena couldn't forgive herself.] SD: Why not have the two of them die together? RJ: If they both die, then they're together and Xena sacrifices nothing. The redemption of Xena had to be a sacrifice. What does she love more than anything in the world--Gabrielle. SD: Xena staying dead was also a sacrifice for Gabrielle. RJ: Absolutely! [Discussion about Akemi/Michelle Ang.] [Discussion about changing the rules of being dead in each world/country.] RJ: ...It was a bit of a juggle, but we knew it had to be that way. If she could bring herself back to life and liberate the dead, she'd be foolish to stay dead.... The whole key to why she had to stay dead was really very simple. We had read in some book about Japan that, at one time in their cultural development, they believed for the dead to be redeemed, the people who were responsible for their death had to be killed. That was a very revenge-oriented period of that country's culture.... Xena was responsible for the death of the villagers. We've always said, in the different geographical and cultural regions we've visited, their afterlife is different. In this Japanese afterlife, Xena had to die and stay dead. [Final thoughts about the show.] RJ: ...Dan Filie, an executive at Universal once called me after reading a particularly good script and said, "RJ, the scripts don't have to be this good. We've got Lucy Lawless in leather!" (laughing) ========= So, there you have it. ;) X had to die as a way of getting _dramatic_ redemption; the "afterlife rules" were based on something they read in a history book (not made up on a whim, as some have suggested); ROC wasn't necessarily a stand-out actress at the beginning; and LL clearly carried the fate of the show on her shoulders. And as LL stated in the Pasadena Con video, she would've given a 7th season her all, but would've been physically *exhausted*. I'm sure at least part of the decision to fold the series after the 6th season was hers, but she doesn't want to clearly admit it. ;P Just FYI, --Jackie ****************************************************** * Proud to have the same birthday as Lucy Lawless! * * * * "I think New Zealand geographically comes from * * ... Hawai'i." --Lucy Lawless, Late Show, 4/9/96 * * * * "Feel the fear and do it anyway." --Lucy Lawless, * * Evening Post, 7/4/98 * * * * JACKIE YOUNG, JYOUNG@LAVA.NET * * * ******************************************************