Was Gabrielle a teenager in season 1?
Posted by Critical_Leave_2574@reddit | xena | View on Reddit | 51 comments
Just curious to know how old others think Gab and Xena may have been when they first met. I’m thinking maybe Xena was around 30 and Gab 18-19?
I love the show but she is probably my least favorite character. She can be so annoying, but at least she has pure heart and keeps Xena company.
joelbrielle@reddit
gabrielle in the script — 18
‘ About 18 years old. She pushes her way out of the crowd. Her name is GABRIELLE and she's a knockout. She protectively pushes her younger sister, LILA, age 15, back into the crowd. ‘
cestlavie_69@reddit
Where does one find the scripts? Not the transcripts but the TV scripts with the descriptions like this as well as the direction?
*Rant ahead: Wth did they mean “and she’s a knockout”? Man, that chaps my little feminist hide. What do her looks have to do with her characterization?? By the gods, that is so problematic. The only reason a note like that works is if her physical appearance propels the storyline. Maybe “she pushes her way out of the crowd. Her name is GABRIELLE and Xena thinks she’s a knockout.”
Also, OP, if you look beyond the action you’ll find the thread that runs through the whole series. This IS Gabrielle’s story. She is on the hero’s journey.
FirebirdWriter@reddit
Xena going xThis chick is hot" works for me on the perspective for why she's seen as a knock out. Gabrielle isn't hot to me (this isn't a bad thing she just looks like my sister but with abs and better hair). So my Interpretation here is this is Xena having a moment of lust
Agent8699@reddit
Check out who was originally cast as Gabrielle - Sunny Knox / Doench.
TPTB ran into issues subsequently casting ROC based on the studio’s desire for a more … Baywatch-esque casting and concern that the series wouldn’t be “sexy” enough. I believe Tapert told them that if audiences don’t find “Xena” herself sexy enough, then they’re out of luck anyway.
cestlavie_69@reddit
Why did they end up switching to ROC?
Agent8699@reddit
Sonny Knox didn’t want to leave her boyfriend in LA to move to New Xenaland.
TPTB had already worked with ROC for one of the Hercules TV movies where she played Daienara (sp?). ROC had also been in one of their earlier films … Darkman 2 (?). They thought she would be a good fit for Gabrielle … and they were right!
It’s a similar reason to how we ended up with Lawless as Xena - after Vanessa Angel dropped out, no American actress was willing to leave LA during pilot season to film some thankless bit part on some schlocky fantasy series in the middle of nowhere.
But, TPTB were familiar with Lawless from her prior Hercules roles and she was in New Zealand (although unfortunately totally uncontactable since she was off camping in the bush).
No_Kaleidoscope928@reddit
What’s tptb?
Agent8699@reddit
The Powers That Be aka Rob Tapert and his close working associates.
Boblaire@reddit
Interesting. I found a picture of her from a movie in 94.
Meushell@reddit
Lila was 15?! 😂
Sorry, show, but no way was she fifteen.
OrangeClyde@reddit
Life was a lot tougher back then!
WildConstruction8381@reddit
Freaking Medusae and stuff go figure.
pleasegawd@reddit
Im my head, Gabby was in her 15 or 16 years old in season 1. I also don't read into any romance between her and Xena, which is why I see no reason to insist she was 18 years or older. Being younger is more consistent with Gabrielle being a talkative young girl who mpst adults would find irritating.
caitlyntheresa@reddit
“Company”
crochet-fae@reddit
They were roommates.
Successful-Issue-450@reddit
harold they're lesbians
OrangeClyde@reddit
Cousins
trickpurpose@reddit
sisters who kiss
DamonAlbarnFruit@reddit
Hey mister…she’s my sister
GoblinQueenForever@reddit
Oh my god, they were roomates
goober_ginge@reddit
Just a couple of gal pals 😇😇
TheSentientSnail@reddit
Come and knock on my dooooor...
Automatic-Adeptness4@reddit
ah yes, the IRRITATING BLONDE Gabby lol.
Also this scene....damn...when Xena says she's grateful Gabby came back for her even after this 😥
Agent8699@reddit
It was never canonically confirmed, but I estimate Gabrielle to be somewhere between 15 and 17 in SOTP, with Xena being somewhere around 28 to 32.
No_Kaleidoscope928@reddit
What’s S O T P???
Agent8699@reddit
Sins of the Past - the first episode of Xena: Warrior Princess.
aqueladaniela@reddit
I always thought her to be a teenager on the first 2, maybe 3 seasons. And Callisto to be a year or two younger than her.
Wicked68@reddit
I didn't read Callisto as being younger than Gab. Hmm
aqueladaniela@reddit
I'm just going by the flashback scenes and the time-frame that I imagine evil Xena attacked Cirra. I think it was closer to her downfall / redemption than to her rising, ie. And that actress looked 11, maybe 12. Thus I imagining Callisto might have been a year younger than Gabbi. I'd say on season 1, Gabbi is 18-19 and Callisto 17-18. Again, based on the Cirra event and not on Hudson's look.
DamonAlbarnFruit@reddit
Well she was betrothed when she met Xena, so probably 18-19
GnollRanger@reddit
She was way hotter with the long hair.
kazelords@reddit
Gabrielle was 18, xena around 10 years older.
TheUselessLibrary@reddit
Teenage is a very modern concept.
Throughout history, people have either been children or adults, and depending on the culture and initiation rights, that transition from child to adult happened at different times.
In Jewish law, having your Barmitzvah and becoming a man (Apparent Bat Mitzvahs are a relatively new practice, only beginning in the US during the 1920s, among Reconstructionist Jewish communities)
Among certain African cultures, circumcision is a common initiation rite. Bearing the pain stoically is the goal.
The teenager, who is approaching adulthood in the body but still requires extra handling emotionally, is a very new phenomenon that many have tied to the invention of the automobile that allowed for the development of youth culture as we understand it now.
xCamila123@reddit
She was annoying, she choose to follow Xena and suddenly she´s sick of the violence? Blindly follows anyone who speaks of "the path of the light". Xena was too quick to forgive her honestly and Tara should have kicked her ass more
OrangeClyde@reddit
Lol why did you choose this clip 😂
DaniDoesnt@reddit
This made me lol
echothought@reddit
Probably because they said “she is probably my least favorite character”.
Fearless_Cloud_2500@reddit
She’s meant to be around 16 or 17 in season one. In the cast commentary for return of Callisto Lucy asks Renee if she was supposed to be 17 there and Renee says “around 18 I think”, so I think it’s safe to say she was a year or so younger season 1.
-DistractedByDogs-@reddit
Renee O’Conner said when Gabrielle and Xena first met that Gabby was 15-16.
Wicked68@reddit
I believe so. They never confirmed her or Xena's age. But based on context of the show, the time it took place in, the ages young girls use to married off/given away, and how Xena kind of got flack for traveling around with "a young girl". I have always thought her to be maybe like 16 in season 1. There was definitely a big age gap there, hahaha
ZvsGrgs@reddit
I rewatched the series for the first time recently and I agree, she was sooooo annoying, especially at the beginning. When various characters mentioned how annoying she was, I thought “yeah” and it was weird because I didn’t thought so when I was a lot younger. Anyway. Yeah, I’d say she could be around 15-17 when we first see her. They had already picked a guy for her to marry, so if she was an adult, she’d be already married. She could also be 14, I don’t know at what age Ancient Greeks married 🤷♂️ but I’m more comfortable with 15-16. And Xena? She had a rich past, but she must be still young. So if Gabrielle is 15, Xena could be… I think maybe 23-25? I don’t want her too much older, I like to assume she also started young, 14-15, and all her last experiences (which were A LOT) happened in a period of 7-8 years.
CreativeCritter@reddit
She was very young. I always thought she was in her late teens yes.
AvocadoPizzaCat@reddit
she was written as a late teen, but as the two were together it seemed more like she was a 20s year old that just left for college for the first time. then again, their ages and history was pretty much a sliding history because they wanted xena to have so much backstory. i still think some god forced xena to relive the same year over and over again to get such a history. maybe a god that had the hots for aries.
silvergiltsky@reddit
Yes, she was a teen
10Panoptica@reddit
I read Gabrielle as around 18-19 in season 1, and Xena as around 26-27.
General_Eisenfaust@reddit
Renée said Gabrielle was supposed to be 17 when she married Perdicus. That makes her 15/16 in the first episode. Xena is round about ten years older than her.
Prior_Recipe_5999@reddit
It was vague I always figured early to mid 20s-30s
matt-89@reddit
Xena 27-28 and Gabrielle 18-19 I reckon.
only_norj@reddit
Even as a kid watching this scene, I always wondered, with Xena's strength, how Gabrielle wasn't knocked unconscious with a massive bruise, especially with how hard she fell onto stone steps.
RotaVitae@reddit
Xena works with 90s sensibilities projected onto the ancient past. Gab was engaged, so I definitely think she'd be at least 17-18, but not much older. She still has a high schooler's naivete when she first ventures out.
I like to think that Xena was also about 18 when Amphipolis was raided, putting both of them on the cusp of adulthood when their worlds changed forever in ways they never expected. Which would make Xena about 28-29.
queeeeeni@reddit
Gabrielle is meant to be late teens in season 1, yeah.