Support the siteSupport

Hercules and Xena

Xena starts as a villain three episodes from the end of Hercules season one, and for the four years after that the two shows hand stories to each other.

0%
complete

Where to start with Hercules and Xena

Two shows and one story. Xena begins inside Hercules as a warlord, gets her own series after three episodes, and from that point the two ran in production at the same time for four years, with characters and whole plots moving between them. The rule is simple once you see it: Hercules season two pairs with Xena season one, season three with season two, and so on, one season number apart the whole way.

  1. 1
    Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, season 1 Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

    Thirteen episodes. Xena turns up in episode 9, The Warrior Princess, as a warlord trying to split Hercules and Iolaus, and she was written to die in it. She does not, and episodes 12 and 13, The Gauntlet and Unchained Heart, are the ones that turn her.

  2. 2
    Xena: Warrior Princess, season 1 Xena: Warrior Princess

    Twenty-four episodes, opening days after Unchained Heart with Xena burying her armour. Hercules and Iolaus guest in episode 8, Prometheus, so this is not a clean break from the parent show.

  3. 3
    Hercules, season 2, alternated with it Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

    These two premiered the same week in September 1995 and both run twenty-four episodes, so one for one alternation works exactly. From here the shows are always in production together.

  4. 4
    Xena, season 2, then Hercules season 3 with it Xena: Warrior Princess

    Twenty-two episodes each and the same schedule again. Callisto crosses to Hercules in episode 12, Surprise, and Xena and Gabrielle turn up in episode 15, Judgment Day, to clear Hercules of a murder.

  5. 5
    Xena, season 3, with Hercules season 4 Xena: Warrior Princess

    The year the two shows genuinely share a plot. Xena episode 4, The Deliverer, starts the Dahak story, and Hercules picks it up in the middle of its own season.

Then what? The one place air order matters to the episode: watch Xena 3x11 Maternal Instincts, then Hercules 4x13 Armageddon Now part one, then Xena 3x12 The Bitter Suite, then Hercules 4x14 Armageddon Now part two. Armageddon Now opens on the closing shot of Maternal Instincts, so reversing them makes no sense. After that, keep alternating: Hercules season 5 with Xena season 4, where the Dahak story finishes on Hercules in episodes 1, 2, 8, 10 and 11 rather than on Xena. Hercules season 6 is eight episodes and stops in November 1999, part way through Xena season 5, so Xena finishes alone with a season and a half. Hercules himself appears once more, in Xena 5x12 God Fearing Child, months after his own show had ended. Young Hercules is optional and sits before everything as a prequel; the animated film is optional and referred to by nothing.

A suggested way in, not an official one. The full list is below — tick anything off in either place.

0titles watched
0episodes checked
0left to watch
up next

Sync & backup

Your progress is saved on this device automatically. To carry it to another device, move the code below.

The code holds only this franchise. The link opens the tracker with your progress already filled in — good for showing someone where you're at. The image is a picture you can keep anywhere: scan the code on it with a phone, or drag the file back in below.

Drag a SagaList image here, or .

This reads the progress stored inside the picture, so nothing has to be retyped. If the image has been through a messaging app it may have been re-encoded and lost that — scan the code on it instead, or copy the code printed along the bottom.

Restoring replaces the progress currently saved on this device for the franchise the code belongs to.