A thing I did for a Community Challenge...
I chose to recast the 6 main roles on Xena: Warrior Princess. First and foremost, I recasted this show because I have always felt that Callie and Arizona were an uber couple. Reincarnations of Xena and Gabrielle. So when this challenge came up, it was the FIRST thing that came to mind and all the roles fell into place rather easily... almost. HA.
Lucy Lawless was the woman they chose to cast as Xena. She was kind of perfect. I decided to recast with Sara Ramirez for several reasons. One, the dark hair. I know. Simple. It is important however. Secondly, Xena NEEDS to have amazing chemistry with Gabrielle. Seriously, a bunch of the fandom watched mainly for this purpose. I was one of them. As you can see, I casted Jessica Capshaw as Gabrielle (more on THAT later!) Xena also can't be a waif. She needs to look strong and beautiful. Not skinny and weak. Sara is all those things. I also think she can pull it off with her acting chops and would have been able to deliver the musical episodes beautifully. She has a deep, melodic voice which would be extremely useful when fighting warlords. I bet she can nail the battle cry as well! Plus, she has the eyebrows for it. Xena fans know that Lucy Lawless had very expressive eyebrows!
Renee O'Connor played one of my favourite characters of ALL time, Gabrielle. Only recently has someone surpassed her. Jessica Capshaw would make a perfect Gabrielle as she has already proven on Grey's Anatomy as Arizona. Seriously, these characters have SO much in common. Both characters are bubbly on the surface but are much more complex when you delve into it. Both have some major insecurities and both have found their soulmates. Jessica Capshaw would be amazing in portraying the subtle points of Gabrielle. She can do the bubbly and still show the internal struggle Gabrielle has with the fact that her path of peace and love is an impossible path for her to follow while being with her one true love, Xena. I can see the reactions that Jessica Capshaw so flawlessly can portray with just a twitch of her expressive face benefiting this character's portrayal. Gabrielle is a bard and her actress also needs to be able to do the long winded speeches - and we KNOW no one does it better than JCap! She also would have AMAZING chemistry with her recasted co-star, Sara Ramirez, and has the physical build and athleticism necessary for the role - if any of her tweets about soulcycle and all the other activities she participates in are any indication. Plus, they are both blonde. HA!
One thing Xena had for it was perfect casting. The characters were portrayed by some amazing people and Callisto was NO exception. She was played by the slightly insane (possibly insane...) Hudson Leick. Callisto was a damaged person. Evil Xena killed her family at a very young age and she vowed to get revenge on Xena ever since. At the end of the fourth season of Xena, she manages to have Xena and Gabrielle both crucified and, as a result, while all three are in the afterlife, Xena makes amends by taking her place in hell and Callisto becomes an Angel. And a ton of other shit happens. I can see Katherine Heigl portraying this convincingly. She needs to play the innocent, damaged girl; the crazy insane killer; the Angelic Callisto; and the slightly - more than likely - girl in love with Xena role. It was subtle, but it was SO there. Katherine Heigl is an amazing actress and I think she could do it. Hell, she won an emmy didn't she?
Joxer. Played by Ted Raimi. I kind of HATED this character. He was too goofy for my tastes. Joxer is a wannabe warrior who is HOPELESSLY in love with Gabrielle. He lives to old age and eventually gets killed by Xena's daughter, Livia, while trying to protect Gabrielle. He needs to be played by someone who can be goofy and a little dorky. Suffer from unrequited love and still make the audience root for him. TR Knight obviously is the perfect candidate for this role. Wasn't that George? Goofy, adorable and hopelessly in love with Meredith? Basically it's the same role except he gets to wear a horrible hat and have a sword instead of a scalpel. He has a great heart and is extremely loyal to his friends. He needs to be clumsy (oh - GEORGE AGAIN) and kinda spacey. Hell, I might even kind of like Joxer if he was played by TR Knight. It's crazy how much Joxer IS George O'Malley.
Ares, the God of War, was played by Kevin Smith (may he forever rest in peace). I have recasted him with Eric Dane for several reasons. Basically, Ares is Mark. Again. Doing this challenge has shown me how much of Xena is in Grey's Anatomy. Ares is brash, cocky, hopelessly in love with Xena and kind of an ass. However, he still has a good heart and even though he is somewhat evil, he is 100 percent dedicated to Xena. He even gives up his immortality to save Gabrielle and Eve (Xena's daughter). Ares needs to look AMAZING. Great body. He has to be cocky and you still need to love him. Eric Dane has proven he can pull all of this off with his portrayal of Mark Sloan. No one doubts his love for Callie and even though he gets in the way, you know he was loyal to her. He always tried to do the right thing. He could easily step into this role. Hand the man a sword!
This was the hardest one. I decided at the last minute to include this one instead of someone else I had chosen. Ephiny is the Queen of the Amazons. Ephiny is a leader and someone who does what she needs to do to keep her tribe of Amazons strong. She rarely portrays emotion because she needs to show a strength that the others do not. Charlotte King is much the same way. She is a leader and she emits a strength so others don't know of her insecurities. Opening up to a few people that she trusts and loves. So we KNOW that KaDee Strickland can pull it off. No question. The woman can express vulnerability just with her eyes while still emitting a strength. She can stare down the toughest patients and her own rapist. Surely she can bring up the acting chops to stare down Brutus. Plus, the woman just looks REGAL. I can totally see her being Queen of the Amazons.
God. I hope I did this right. >.