Lucy Lawless is embracing her 50s with open arms, describing this chapter of her life as a season of “immense power.” The former Xena: Warrior Princess star, now 57, says she’s experiencing a creative and personal resurgence after decades in front of the camera.
Speaking to Metro, she shared how life has taken a major turn. “Utterly,” she said. “It’s exciting to tell people that your 50s are a time of immense power. You get a second wind after children and you’ve stopped having to prove yourself. You can only fail — but who cares? On your deathbed, you’re going to care you didn’t take the opportunity.”
Lucy, who still stars in My Life Is Murder, has stepped behind the camera in recent years, making her directorial debut with the 2023 documentary Never Look Away, which tells the story of New Zealand-born CNN war reporter Margaret Noth. Surprisingly, she never set out to become a director.
“We were looking for a director and somebody said, ‘Why don’t you do it?’ I said, ‘I’m an actor!’” she recalled. “But it turned out I was the only person who cared enough to push the project through.”
The documentary became a breakout success at Sundance and sparked a whole new passion. “I’ve discovered the other side of the camera,” she said.
Earlier this year, Lucy admitted she’s no longer drawn to acting the way she once was. “For nearly 40 years it was all I’d done for a living, and I’m just not that interested in the process anymore,” she told The Independent. “This directing thing is a hard 180 degrees the other way. You have total control, and it’s made me giddy.”
Still, she’s not ready to hang up her acting boots completely. She continues to enjoy her role in My Life Is Murder, which is now filming its fifth season. “It’s an hour of everyone’s day to feel safe,” she said. “As a director, it’s bloody hard out there. I heard it from my husband [director Robert Tapert], too. But I’m OK with the challenge.”
