What famous director that exploded in the ‘90s is a huge Xena: Warrior Princess fan?

Xena was originally supposed to die.

As a recurring character on the ‘90s syndicated fantasy TV series, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena was originally slated to be killed off during her third appearance on the show. But not only did producers pay attention to her rising popularity and save her, they created an entire spin-off just for the warrior princess.

Played by Lucy Lawless, Xena’s story is one of redemption as she seeks to use her incredible fighting skills to protect the defenseless — mostly because she used to kill and pillage, like, a lot. And her story proved compelling to many, many people, ultimately outperforming the show it spun off from.

One of those hardcore fans is this famous movie director, who initially exploded onto the scene in the 1990s. Who loves them some warrior princess?