some fans felt that the sexual nature of xena and the character gabrielle's relationship was cemented by an interview given by lucy lawless to "lesbian news" magazine in 2003. lawless stated that after the series finale, where gabrielle revives xena with a mouth-to-mouth water transfer filmed to look like a full kiss, she had come to believe that xena and gabrielle's relationship was "definitely gay... there was always a 'well, she might be or she might not be' but when there was that drip of water passing between their lips in the very final scene, that cemented it for me".