Exclusive: Lucy Lawless on Kicking Ass Through The Ages

"I was more than happy for them to strand D'Anna in a wasteland, I think that really worked with her. She had a very nihilistic habit anyway. She was a pretty bleak soul, so that really suited her vibe. I reckon she probably found out she was pregnant the week after the spaceship leaves, so she goes, 'Oh my god! I'm up the duff.' Probably popped out a couple of scrogs, and they all ate rocks and slime and whatever was available on that planet."

"It's important to the storyline, and it really jolts you. It's that 'we're not in Kansas anymore'... You realize, when a husband and wife are having sexual relations in front of all these slaves, and everybody is standing around bored as can be - or even participating in a very perfunctory way - you know this is nothing like your modern world."

"Even when you take away all the bells and whistles, and the nudity, and the buckets of blood, you've got super intriguing drama between all of the characters. It's a very rewarding show to watch if you can stomach all of the blood and... Balls, I guess."

“Hercules, in its time was huge – really huge. I don’t think [Xena] eclipsed it so much as struck a different cord with its fan base, which was just a little bit edgier. Hercules was an enormous family success, whereas Xena wasn’t really a family show. It caught more this, not exactly a wave, but an undercurrent – a culty undercurrent in society.”

"It was the moon around Pluto or something, I think they called it Cassiopeia in the end. The guy who discovered it from Caltech, he was a big Xena fan at the time, and he got shot down by the scientific community, who thought it should follow a more traditional line of naming. I've got to say: I think Xena was every bit as real as Cassiopeia - and more famous today [laughs]!"