90s star Lucy Lawless wows fans in Sydney 30 years after iconic role in Xena: Warrior Princess

A 90s icon who played the role of Xena: Warrior Princess has re-emerged in Sydney almost 30 years since first appearing on screens.

A 90s icon who played the role of Xena: Warrior Princess has re-emerged in Sydney almost 30 years since first appearing on screens.

Lucy Lawless, who played the title role in the popular action series, walked the purple carpet overnight at the South by Southwest (SXSW) event at the Darling Harbour Theatre.

In town to promote her new documentary Never Look Away, which marks her directorial debut, the TV legend looked unlike the fringed, black-haired warrior princess she portrayed on the trailblazing show from 1999 to 2001.

90s TV legend Lucy Lawless attends the screening SXSW in Sydney on October 14. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for SXSW Sydney

Instead, Lawless, 56, sported lighter locks which she wore softly around her face.

However, Xena’s metal armour may be no more but the edgy attire remained as the New Zealand-born star wore top-to-toe black with a leather jacket and combat boots.

Lawless became a household name in the mid-90s when she scored the role in the US fantasy television series, which was filmed in her native New Zealand.

Next year marks 30 years since Lawless first appeared on our screens in the action series. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for SXSW Sydney

After the series wrapped in 2001, she went on to star in Battlestar Galactica, My Life is Murder and had a recurring role in the hit series Parks and Recreation. But it was playing the Warrior Princess, a feminist role model, that the actress is best known for.

Arguably, the series shaped a generation of viewers, who to this day have begged for a reboot. But Lawless believes it’s a bad idea unless the new offering completely “honours” the original series.

“They keep trying and it keeps foundering at the last step for various reasons,” she recently told the New Zealand Herald.

The series also starred Renee O’Connor as Gabrielle.

“The thing is, you have to reboot it in a way that honours the old but is entirely new, and if you can’t do it as well as or better than the original, then you can’t do it at all, really. You can’t do a lame version because it’ll just flop.”

Besides, it would be hard to create a reboot given her character was controversially killed in the series finale.

“I wish we never killed her,” she told Screen Rant in a previous interview. “This is the problem. We weren’t thinking about the fans. We were just like, ‘What’s a really strong choice for the series? What’s dramatically the strongest choice?’ But I regret that.”

“Now in my line of work, or if I’m directing, every single shot is with the audience in mind. Not just their sort of emotional wellbeing, but keeping them excited and on the edge of their seats is the name of the game. I just regret that we did that.”

Originally published as 90s star Lucy Lawless wows fans in Sydney 30 years after iconic role in Xena: Warrior Princess