Heavy Spoilers for Ending: She could have really changed the feeling of the finale
Posted by Ok-Jackfruit-6873@reddit | xena | View on Reddit | 11 comments
I don't remember having any particular feelings about Amarice during her run on the show, but the other day someone here made a comment that original idea was for Gabrielle to become her mentor over time, training her like Xena trained Gabrielle. I've been thinking about that ever since ... man, that would have really changed how I feel about the finale!! I think they should have cast another actress for a similar role if they couldn't keep Jennifer Sky. Then we wouldn't have had weirdly hot-headed Gabrielle in the final seasons, and FIN would have felt less crushing.
nancys911@reddit
I would have like Varia to go b besties kinda with eve
Cesarsghost123@reddit
Ok you guys are missing something...Gabrielle gave rite of caste to eve. So there was plenty of room for gab to work with eve on being an Amazon and since both of them are warriors but with that peaceful streak, it could have been interesting to watch that develop.
I also think that if Jennifer sky had not gotten the part of Cleopatra, things would have developed differently with the storyline.
They kind of started going that way with the character of tara but honestly there was no chemistry. Amarice /Jennifer sky had chemistry with both Lucy and rene. So she was the better fit.
A lot of those types of shows are written ahead of time so more than likely when Jennifer got the part of Cleopatra, it threw everything off and they had to refigure it all out. Enter the 25 jump and the adult Eve.
A perfect example is Virgil. They intended to have him in as more of a regular but the actor got a full time gig elsewhere so his storyline ended abruptly.
Ok-Jackfruit-6873@reddit (OP)
I definitely never wanted more of Tara, so I agree Amarice was the better addition
godsibi@reddit
I'm not sure this would work any better. Actually, I think it would be bad cause it would distract from Xena 's redemption achievement and seem like a companion replacement for Gabrielle. Also, Amarice was not really a very sympathetic character. Like Tara, I found her a bit annoying at times. Jennifer Sky did all she could with the material, but I feel she didn't add much to the story tbh.
Agent8699@reddit
I think they intended to expand and grow Amarice’s character given her original background as the sole survivor of an Amazon tribe dealing with significant survivor’s guilt.
Ok-Jackfruit-6873@reddit (OP)
I agree that during the original run of the show I mostly found her annoying. For whatever reason the writers really felt like they needed a young/dumb character to have pratfalls and make mistakes for Xena to clean up. Initially this was Gabrielle getting captured all the time, to the point where it sometimes strained credulity that Xena would keep her around. Later Joxer got more of the humorous pratfalls, and then sometimes Amarice took that over, or Eve got them into trouble repeatedly.
Ill_Try356@reddit
Well considering she had descendants in the future she probably settled down with Virgil and had kids
ObnoxiousConsistent@reddit
i dont think it was with Virgil though, since Joxer and Gabrielle seemed to have different descendants (Janice vs Jack) although that far off in the future, i guess it wouldnt really matter
Agent8699@reddit
Maybe. But, the sidekick would have also needed to have been frozen for 25 years.
Unless the new setup was Gabrielle’s former protege suddenly become her elder / mentor and now Gabrielle copes with being reverted back to the younger / less experienced mentor?
They could have tried to do something interesting with Eve or Varia as Gabrielle’s protege. Instead, despite Gabrielle’s former peacenik phase and desire to be a healer, she never really bonded with Eve. And for some reason, the mentor / protege relationship for Varia was between Xena and Varia, not Gabrielle and Varia.
I think Rob Tapert and RJ Stewart have said that they wished they could have done a “coda” for Gabrielle showing how she survives (and even thrives) after losing Xena. Whether or not she would get a sidekick of her own is uncertain. I think Gabrielle definitely needs company. But, if and when she’d led a tagalong follow her around is uncertain.
Ok-Jackfruit-6873@reddit (OP)
Yeah honestly when I read the comment about Amarice it made me try to think back to what scenes she had with Gabrielle, I don't really recall her seeming more Gabrielle's protege vs Xena's. But I guess it is Gabi who gives her the Amazon peptalk / makes her part of the tribe. I assume in the universe where they stuck with Amarice as almost a third protagonist, perhaps the time skip didn't happen (I would have preferred that) or just happened differently. I think they had a different arc in mind for Eve and maybe didn't really think through how terrible the current ending is for Gabrielle ... I mean she has basically nobody left. If she'd been closer to Eve, or Eve had been written differently, maybe they could have implied she goes to reconnect with her and mentor her after FIN but that certainly wasn't where my mind went.
Agent8699@reddit
Amarice’s original backstory was originally totally different.
Gabrielle and Amarice were intended to be the “action” leads in season 5, with the pregnant Lawless / Xena involvement in those scenes being minimised.
It all changed early on in season 5 due to various reasons, including Steven L Sears’ departure and Jennifer Sky being cast as Cleo 2525. So, the planned storylines never really got to be seen.
We only know the vaguest ideas about the original plans for season 5, which were more Gabrielle-centric.